Running News Daily
Top Ten Stories of the Week
4/4/2020
These are the top ten stories based on views over the last week.
Gareth Allen ran 1,066 laps of a 130-foot course to complete a marathon in his backyard
As lockdowns become more and more common across the globe to flatten the curve of the coronavirus outbreak, runners are becoming more desperate to fit in their training. Whether people are running on balconies, in their apartments or in their yards, runners everywhere are finding unique places to work out. Gareth Allen has officially joined this list of quarantine-runners after he ran a marathon around a 130-foot course in his backyard in Southampton, U.K., which he called The Garden Marathon.
start of 2020, Allen set out to run 12 100-mile races in under 12 months to raise money for the Great Oaks School and the Hurricanes Rugby Club in Southampton, which both work with students and players, respectively, with learning disabilities. He ran his first 100-miler on January 30, and his second was set for March 27 in Ireland, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19.
In the U.K., citizens are encouraged to “only leave the house for very limited purposes,” which includes “one form of exercise a day,” according to the British government’s website. Allen decided he would forego a short run around Southampton and instead go long in his backyard. He streamed his run on Facebook live, where over 334,000 people tuned in over his six hours of running.
As lockdowns become more and more common across the globe to flatten the curve of the coronavirus outbreak, runners are becoming more desperate to fit in their training. Whether people are running on balconies, in their apartments or in their yards, runners everywhere are finding unique places to work out. Gareth Allen has officially joined this list of quarantine-runners after he ran a marathon around a 130-foot course in his backyard in Southampton, U.K., which he called The Garden Marathon.
At the start of 2020, Allen set out to run 12 100-mile races in under 12 months to raise money for the Great Oaks School and the Hurricanes Rugby Club in Southampton, which both work with students and players, respectively, with learning disabilities. He ran his first 100-miler on January 30, and his second was set for March 27 in Ireland, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19.
In the U.K., citizens are encouraged to “only leave the house for very limited purposes,” which includes “one form of exercise a day,” according to the British government’s website. Allen decided he would forego a short run around Southampton and instead go long in his backyard. He streamed his run on Facebook live, where over 334,000 people tuned in over his six hours of running.
Allen also had a Facebook event page where he introduced The Garden Marathon, which he described as, “Just me running round my back garden 1000 or so times.” To be exact, he ended up running 1,254 laps, which worked out to 49.688 kilometers in six hours. He originally planned to run just the marathon, which was 1,066 laps, but he said if the day’s donations reached £1,066 ($1,849), he would run until the six-hour mark. He passed through 42K in 5:02:20.
Allen’s original goal on his GoFundMe page was £2,000 ($3,469), but yesterday’s run pushed him well over that, up to more than £2,500. After the run, he posted a video on Facebook thanking everyone for their support, and he said he will continue to work towards running 1200 miles over the course of 2020, whether in sanctioned events or not, and he hopes to raise even more money moving forward.
(03/31/20) Views: 334Ben Snider-McGrath
75 year-old, Jim Pearson has run at least a mile every day for 50 years and he won´t stop doing it
The lead story in The Seattle Times on Feb. 15, 1970, was headlined, “Nixon bans war toxins.” In sports, the banner trumpeted that the Seattle Pilots were dropping the price of their field box seats for 1970 from $6 to $4.50 – though it became a moot point when the Pilots moved to Milwaukee six weeks later.
One other event that day, however, went unnoted in the news. Jim Pearson, the cross-country coach at Ferndale High School, didn’t go for a run.
The world has changed in myriad ways in the ensuing half-century, but there has been one constant. Through rainstorms and blizzards, floods and Nor’westers, surgeries and illness, and now through a worldwide pandemic, Pearson has run every day since.
That’s 50 years, 40 days and counting for the 75-year-old Pearson, now hunkered down in Marysville. Hunkered, that is, except for his daily peregrination in Adidas, a welcome diversion in our shelter-in-place existence.
Put another way, it’s 18,304 straight days of running at least a mile, which is the minimum requirement for an officially recognized running streak (but Pearson, a former national record-holder at 50 miles, almost never runs that short a distance). Put yet another way, it’s 176,926 total miles, up to and including Pearson’s 2½-mile run on Friday.
It’s the second-longest active streak in the country, 266 days behind the 18,570 of 69-year-old Jon Sutherland of West Hills, Calif. Pearson says with mock indignation, “Every day I run, and I haven’t gained a day on him.”
But everyone else in the country, and probably the world, is behind these two ironmen, as compiled by the Streak Runners International Inc. and United States Running Streak Association, Inc. Their registry is all based on the honor system, but Pearson has 50 years-plus of log books and running diaries to back him up.
“I’ve always said the first 100 days are the hardest on this streak stuff,’’ said Pearson. “People say, ‘Oh, you’re amazing.’ No, I’m not. People who can do one year, that’s amazing. How do you run every day for a year? But once you’ve done that, it’s something you just do.”
Pearson is duly grateful that running is an activity that can be maintained through the coronavirus quarantining – with proper social distancing, of course. It’s just one of numerous challenges Pearson has faced to keep his streak alive since his summer coach with the Everett Elks track team, Keith Gilbertson Sr., implored Pearson to get more consistent with his running.
Running became a way of life in the Pearson family. All three of his children, two boys and a girl, put together run streaks that stretched into multiple years. Barbie, his wife, didn’t run, but she told Jim when they were married, “I won’t interfere with your running.”
(03/30/20) Views: 305
Larry Stone
Boston resident Molly Seidel qualified for the Olympic marathon but she’s worried about what happens now
The trials was one of the best days of my life, Seidel said. “To potentially have that taken away is very stressful."
When Molly Seidel reflects on the day she qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics, she’s reminded of a seemingly distant reality.
“Just thinking back to the huge number of crowds that were there and the hugs after the race,” recalled Seidel in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. “Hell, just sitting down at a restaurant afterward. We all went out to a bar that night, too, and shared drinks at the bar. It’s a completely different world than the one we’re in now.”
Less than a month ago, Seidel placed second in the US Olympic marathon trials to punch her ticket to Tokyo. The 25-year-old Boston resident finished the race, her first-ever marathon, with a time of 2:27:31, just eight seconds behind Aliphine Tuliamuk.
As the threat of the coronavirus escalated rapidly, and the list of postponed or canceled sporting events grew, Seidel started to consider the possibility more and more. Could the Olympics really go on as scheduled?
She wasn’t shocked when the postponement became official Tuesday.
“I just don’t think there is any way we could be planning for an Olympics four months from now, especially when the country is going through such a difficult time and the world is going through such a difficult time,” said Seidel. “It would have put a lot of athletes and spectators and just the general public in a lot of danger.”
While Seidel agrees with the International Olympic Committee’s decision, she is certainly disappointed. She’s also incredibly frustrated. The US Olympic & Paralympic Committee, Seidel says, has not been forthcoming with updates. The lack of communication leaves her worried about her status.
There has been some chatter about whether runners should have to re-qualify, given the extended period of time between the marathon trials, which took place Feb. 29, and the rescheduled Games, which do not yet have new dates.
Seidel is hopeful that won’t be the case.
“The trials was one of the best days of my life,” she said. “To potentially have that taken away is very stressful. I’m hoping that they honor the Olympic trials and keep their current marathon team, but we haven’t heard anything from USOC, USATF, from anybody. It’s been difficult getting the information that we need.”
Fellow marathoner Des Linden, who placed fourth in the trials, doesn’t foresee a re-qualification. Linden recently called Seidel to express her support.
“I haven’t heard anything from governing bodies, and I would imagine that they’re not even entertaining that idea,” Linden said. “I think it’s just kind of interesting talk right now, particularly with so much time on our hands.”
Amid the uncertainty, Seidel is still training. She frequently runs on the Esplanade and will soon ramp up her mileage after recovering from the trials. Her coach, who lives locally, is encouraging her to make the best of the extra year, especially considering the fact she’s participated in only one marathon.
Should road races resume this fall, Seidel is looking forward to gaining more experience at the distance.
In her free time, Seidel enjoys binging “Gilmore Girls,” reading, and practicing her banjo and ukulele. She no longer has a job or a roommate, as Tatte cut most of its staff amid the coronavirus outbreak and her sister moved back to their home state of Wisconsin for the time being. But Seidel’s doing her best to make due.
“It was so weird coming off that huge emotional high at the trials,” she said. “Now, it’s just like, ‘OK, back to quarantine.’”
(03/27/20) Views: 204Nicole Yang
Dr. Anthony Fauci Is an Avid Runner, Even When He Works 19-Hour Days
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the 79-year-old longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is reportedly working 19 hours a day in the fight against the coronavirus. You’ve seen him; he’s the slight, bespectacled, plain-dealing Brooklynite at President Donald Trump's elbow during many recent press conferences.
Yet, while many Americans are hoarding toilet paper and cans of baked beans and contemplating whether or not a Mad Men marathon on Netflix counts as a workout, Fauci still finds time to hit the pavement for running workouts.
With his increased age and workload, Fauci has reportedly cut back his daily runs to 3.5 miles per day, as he told Yahoo! White House correspondent Alexander Nasaryan. But back when a younger Fauci was working a lighter, 15-hour day to contain the AIDS epidemic in the '80s and '90s, he would build a lunchtime seven-miler into his schedule, five or six days a week, to keep his weight down, get outside and relieve stress. His daily runs helped him to a personal-best 3 hours and 37 minutes in the 1984 Marine Corps Marathon.
When he was in midst of the fight against HIV/AIDS, Dr. Fauci was known to run 7 miles daily.I just asked him if he still keeps to that exercise regimen.No, he says, noting that he is working 19 hour days to fight the coronavirus.He is down to 3.5 miles -- at the age of 79.
“I think the benefit for me is as a stress-reliever,” Fauci said in a 2016 interview. “I have a pretty high-stress job, so getting outside during the day and hearing the birds and smelling the grass is a very pleasing thing for me.”
Fauci has advised six presidents on AIDs, Ebola, Zika, MERS, SARS, malaria, tuberculosis and many other domestic and global health issues. However, it’s a good bet his cortisol level has never been higher as he struggles to diplomatically disseminate hard facts without undercutting President Trump.
“When you’re dealing with the White House, sometimes you have to say things one, two, three, four times, and then it happens,” he said in a recent interview with Science Magazine. “So, I’m going to keep pushing.”
At work, and on the road.
(03/28/20) Views: 115Lindsay Berra (Men’s Health)
Sam Hustler, a determined runner has completed a half-marathon by jogging the length of his balcony 7,000 times
Sam Hustler, 27, managed the remarkable feat by doing thousands of ‘laps’ of his three-meter long balcony, all adding up to an impressive 21 kilometers.
He had been due to take part in the London Landmarks half marathon, which would have seen him take in sights such as Big Ben, St Paul’s Cathedral and The Shard. But event bosses had to cancel the race following Boris Johnson’s nationwide lockdown to halt the spread of coronavirus.
Organizers encouraged runners to get creative and identify their own local landmarks and map a run around hidden gems in their area on a solo run. However, Sam has been self-isolating with his girlfriend Chloe Skerritt, 28, since Monday when she developed a fever and a cough.
So instead, he had to make do with the views from his third floor apartment in South Woodford, Essex, as he completed the run in three hours with Chloe cheering him on.
I saw a video of a man in Italy who ran a full marathon on his balcony so I thought I could do a half-marathon on mine.
‘We have been self-isolating since Monday. We’re fine, but it’s more of a precaution really. ‘We took the decision to work from home and not go out as my mum works for the NHS and my dad has health issues so we didn’t want to risk spread anything to vulnerable people.’
He also wanted to honor his commitment to raising money for Haven House Children’s Hospice, which supports children with life-threatening or life-limiting illnesses.
They are an amazing charity that believes in the best possible life for every baby and child with a life-limited or life-threatening condition. ‘They do so much for families who live in my community and I’ve seen the work they have done which is absolutely amazing.
‘They’ve been going since 1990 and they’ve just put up an emergency appeal for funding. ‘All their fundraising events have been cancelled and their charity shops have had to close, which was a major source of their income.’
(03/30/20) Views: 90Joe Roberts
Twenty years, it’s been a good run, but as of May 7, 2020, LetsRun.com will be no more, LetsRun.com declares bankruptcy says Jonathan Gault
The worldwide economic depression that has resulted from COVID-19 has cratered the advertising markets and it’s no longer economically feasible to run the website.
“May 7, 2000, was a dark day for US distance running fans and me personally, so the 20th anniversary of that date is the perfect day to go out,” said LetsRun.com co-founder Weldon Johnson, who saw his Olympic dream denied on the streets of Pittsburgh at the 2000 US Olympic Marathon Trials on May 7 when only one man made the team. “The coronavirus canceled the Olympics and now it’s canceled LetsRun.com.
“It’s never been easy to make a living while giving away everything for free, but the decline in the online ad markets over the last few weeks has been unprecedented. Couple that with the fact that online ad marketplaces have gotten much better at tracking people in recent years and our revenue has almost entirely dried up. The advertisers now know that most of our visitors haven’t achieved the ‘LetsRun triple.’ While many have the potential to make well over $250,000 a year, the reality is most of them have never had a full-time job and are living in mom and dad’s basement still chasing that final PR before Father Time gets to them.”
Robert Johnson, Weldon’s brother and the website’s co-founder, didn’t want to talk on the phone. He issued the following statement via email.
Weldon keeps telling me our demise is all the result of COVID-19. That’s hard for me to believe, but maybe that’s because I live in Baltimore, where in the month of March we’ve had 18 killed by murder and only 3 by the coronavirus. Ironically, given the leading role we’ve played during the last two decades in the anti-doping movement, I blame our demise on Travis Tygart and USADA. Once Alberto Salazar got banned, the messageboard traffic really plummeted. People had been speculating about drugs in regards to Athletics West and Salazar since our founding, but now that that storyline has come to a conclusion, there isn’t anything left to talk about.
I begged Weldon to keep the site going until Salazar’s appeal is heard. If his ban gets overturned, the site could become profitable again. But with his baby due in early May, he told me can’t hold out any longer. He’s heard he can make six figures delivering for Instacart in San Fran and since he was used to sleeping in his car often high up in the mountains in Flagstaff, he’ll give that a go until the economy comes back. I feel for him as he won’t even get to see his daughter in person.
Weldon, the elder brother and brains behind the LetsRun.com operation, refused to take a negative view about the closure of the site.“This isn’t a day for ‘woe is me.’ It’s been a great run and I’m really proud of the contributions the platform has made to elevating distance running. When we started the website, the marathon world records were 2:05:42 for the men and 2:20:43 for the women. Now a man has run 1:59:41 and a woman 2:14:04 and we’ve certainly played a role in that, both by developing a platform where coaching advice could spread and by actually pacing two of those world records, one for Catherine Ndereba and one for Paula Radcliffe. Social justice warriors be damned, I’m most proud of the role we’ve played in elevating women’s distance running across the globe. That’s what I hope people will remember us for,” said Weldon.
(04/01/20) Views: 88Jonathan Gault
Eliud Kipchoge says that we will win fight against coronavirus
Eliud Kipchoge, the world's greatest marathon man, reckoned his first reaction was shock when he heard at home in Kenya that the 2020 Olympic Games had been postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
That shock soon gave way to disappointment - but then defiance.
"We will win this fight against the COVID-19," the barrier-breaking Kenyan, who's widely considered the world's finest runner, said in an interview with Reuters.
And the man who last year became the first to run a marathon in under two hours confirmed he can see himself refreshed and ready to defend his marathon title in a rearranged Tokyo Olympics next year.
For the moment, though, the 35-year-old insists his only concern is to care for his family at their home in Eldoret.
"I am totally concentrating on my safety, I am totally concentrating on the safety of the whole family," he said.
"We will win this fight against the COVID-19," the barrier-breaking Kenyan, who's widely considered the world's finest runner, said in an interview with Reuters.
And the man who last year became the first to run a marathon in under two hours confirmed he can see himself refreshed and ready to defend his marathon title in a rearranged Tokyo Olympics next year.
For the moment, though, the 35-year-old insists his only concern is to care for his family at their home in Eldoret.
"I am totally concentrating on my safety, I am totally concentrating on the safety of the whole family," he said.
"I was a little shocked and I had to go back, just to think more. I think and then I said, 'it's not a bad idea to actually postpone'.
"You know the Olympic Games is whereby everybody wants to participate ... it's in the dreams of every sportsman in this world.."
Kipchoge thinks a delayed Olympics could actually benefit his title defence.
"It's a great time for us to go back, train again and we will come back with a lot of energy," he said.
The pandemic has led to the postponement or cancellation of sporting events around the world, including the London Marathon, which next month was scheduled to be Kipchoge's first outing since October's landmark one hour, 59 minutes, 40 seconds run in Vienna.
Even though the run in Austria did not count as a world record because of the special conditions, the feat captured the world's imagination and brought Kipchoge a whole new level of fame.
Kenya has confirmed 42 coronavirus cases, including one fatality, with the country having imposed restrictive measures to arrest the spread of the disease. It even affects their brilliant runners.
But working together within a couple of months to come, this COVID-19 will go away.
"My priority number one is to get the virus away, come back with one mind, one thinking, one line of actually standing and competing."
(03/30/20) Views: 71
Bill Johncock's dream of pushing his disabled son in the Boston Marathon has to wait until September
Bill Johncock and his differently-abled son Logan have gotten pretty accustomed to rolling with the punches over the past year, as Dad has pushed them – quite literally – toward a big running goal: the 2020 Boston Marathon.
The first major milepost came on March 2,2019, when Johncock fought through leg cramps at the Myrtle Beach Marathon but ultimately won the battle, pushing then-20-year-old Logan across the finish line in a borrowed racing wheelchair in a time fast enough to qualify them for Boston as a “duo team”.
Much more recently, a different borrowed racing chair turned out to have a steering problem that wore out Johncock’s arms more than his legs at the Atlanta Half Marathon, a tune-up race he ran with Logan just a few weekends ago.
And now they are having to roll with something Johncock never could have anticipated when he first started down his personal road to Boston: With the coronavirus pandemic and the current trend of cancelling large public events continuing, the Boston Marathon – originally set for April 20 – has been postponed to Sept 14.
Johncock’s trying to take it all in stride.
“It’s just like the chair, or the weather. It’s something that is beyond our control, ” says the 55-year-old podiatrist. “We’re gonna control what we can control. The rest, we’ve gotta put it in God’s hands.... We’ll go to Plan B.”
But at the same time, you can tell how big a blow it is to him. After all, getting to the Boston Marathon with Logan – who has a rare genetic disorder called Angelman syndrome, which makes walking difficult and talking impossible – has been Johncock’s dream for the past 15 years.
Johncock developed a nearly instant passion for running when he was 13 years old.
Even after Johncock started having kids of his own, he kept running, eventually logging more than 100 marathons. He pushed his first son, Drake, in a jogging stroller on the weekends. But by the time Logan came along, Drake was on to other things, and as his three kids grew up, Johncock bonded with each of them over different activities.
His and Logan’s was running; in fact, by the time Logan was about two years old, they were already entering races together.
“My oldest son used to like to ride in the running chair that we had well enough, but... Logan just lit up – in a different way, ” Johncock says. “I guess maybe because of some of his lack of mobility, he really enjoyed the movement of it. It was just like, ‘Wow.’”
Angelman is somewhat similar to Down syndrome, marked by delayed development and intellectual disability.
Logan can’t speak at all, communicating either via a very limited sign-language vocabulary he uses only “if he’s really motivated”, his dad says, laughing – “he signs pretty good for cheeseburgers, but he doesn’t sign very well for broccoli” – or by either pointing or pulling his parents or siblings toward what he wants. He can feed himself, but he can’t dress himself. He can walk, but not very far or for very long; and he certainly can’t run.
Oh, and one other thing about people with Angelman: They generally are unusually happy. Logan is no exception. And the more his dad ran with him, the happier he seemed.
‘The best motivation in the world’
As an individual, Johncock has qualified for and run the Boston Marathon six times – in 1984 with his dad, then again in 1991,1992,1993,2002 and 2005.
But it was while there solo in 2005 that he got the idea to mix things up a little bit. While at the race expo in Boston, he happened to meet Dick Hoyt and his son Rick, who for decades were a fixture at the event, with Dick pushing Rick (who has cerebral palsy) and the pair inspiring countless spectators and runners along the way.
Johncock went home inspired, eventually signing up to push then-six-year-old Logan in the Thunder Road Marathon in Charlotte later that year. Johncock also decided to tie a charity component to his efforts, and wound up raising US$30,000 (RM127,500) for a playground for Logan’s school – the Conover School, which serves children with special needs.
After their long run in Charlotte, Johncock pushed Logan through another marathon in 2007, and a third in 2013. But while these other marathons permitted children, Boston’s rules specify that riders on duo teams must be 18 or older.
Logan became “legal” in 2017, and in 2019, Johncock mustered up the time and the motivation to try to qualify, at age 54.
But, as always, all Johncock can do is just roll with it. “A life is more important. As big as this is for us, the health of a lot of other people is more important. So yeah, it looks like we’ll have to wait. But... eventually, we’ll get there.”
(03/31/20) Views: 68
Western States 100 has been cancelled due to the war the world is in gaged in with the Cornavirus
The decision to cancel the 2020 Western States Endurance Run was a tough one. In accordance with this decision, we are offering an entry spot for the 2021 race to all runners entered in this year’s race and a wait list spot on the 2021 wait list to all people on this year’s wait list.
The 2020 Memorial Day training runs are cancelled and all registrations for those events will roll over to the 2021 Memorial Day training runs. More details on entry and registration for 2021 events will be provided later.
We have made the decision to cancel after careful deliberation, knowing that our foremost responsibility is to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of our 2020 entrants, our volunteers, our broader running community, and society at large.
The current situation in the United States and throughout the world is one of disruption and uncertainty. We feel that moving forward with plans for a race in June is not aligned with what our government, medical experts, and society is asking us to do. While painful to do knowing the hopes and dreams that surround this event, we feel it is the responsible action to take in light of what is going on in the world around us.
(03/27/20) Views: 66
The Wanda Diamond League has today postponed three more meetings which had been scheduled to take place in May
An alternative calendar for the 2020 season is to be announced in due course.
Following the postponement of early-season events in Qatar and China last week, the series has decided to also suspend meetings in Stockholm (scheduled for 24 May), Naples/Rome (28 May) and Rabat (31 May).
The decision was made in close consultation with all the relevant parties. The dynamic global spread of the COVID-19 disease, the travel restrictions expected to be in force for some time and above all concerns over athlete safety have made it impossible to stage the competitions as planned.
The meeting organizers, the Wanda Diamond League and World Athletics remain committed to delivering a structured extensive season in 2020. The aim is to ensure that athletes can compete at the highest possible level this year, and that fans will be able to see their favorite stars in action, whenever the global health situation allows.
New dates for Wanda Diamond League events will be announced in cooperation with the World Athletics Global Calendar Unit as soon as the extraordinary situation makes a reliable plan possible.
We are working intensively with all stakeholders (athletes, managers, broadcasters, sponsors, local authorities and federations) to develop a new calendar for a 2020 Wanda Diamond League season which best serves the interests of athletes and fans.
(03/27/20) Views: 65World Athletics
