In this episode:
— Can running be addictive?
— When is too much running, too much?
— What is a streak runner?
— Is Coach Joe thinking of going streaking?

To watch the video, just click the play button in the video window below.

Season 2 will bring you 30 more episodes so stay tuned every Thursday on Vimeo, Facebook and on www.running-advice.com.

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Meb Keflezighi wins Rock N Roll San Jose 2009

The win gave Keflezighi the USA marathon championship and his fourth national title of 2009, and he became the first American man to win in New York since Alberto Salazar’s 1982 victory in 2:09:29. He earned a total prize-money payday of $170,000, including $130,000 for the overall win and an additional $40,000 for the U.S. title. He also finished atop the USA Running Series rankings for 2009, earning an additional $6,000.

In one of the strongest men’s fields ever in New York, Cheruiyot placed second, 41 seconds back in 2:09:56, with Olympic silver medalist and two-time world champion Jaouad Gharib of Morocco third in 2:10:25. In total, Sunday’s field included 14 men with personal bests under 2:10, including two-time New York champion Marilson Gomes dos Santos and 2004 champion Hendrick Ramaala.

Ryan Hall placed fourth overall in 2:10:36 to take second in the USA championship race, with Jorge Torres 7th overall in his marathon debut, in 2:13:00. Among Americans, Nick Arciniaga was eighth overall in 2:13:46, Abdi Abdirahman ninth in 2:14:00 and Jason Lehmkuhle 10th in 2:14:39, putting six Americans in the top 10 for the first time since 1979.

“It’s a great day for American running and for USA Track & Field,” said USATF CEO Doug Logan. “Based on the consistent upswing in our long-distance performances, we knew it would only be a matter of time until our men won another major marathon. We applaud Meb, and all our athletes today, for a great race. I promise that we will not have to wait 27 years for another victory.”

Late-race surge
The men’s lead pack went out at a modest pace, running a roughly 5:10 per mile for the first two miles. As the pace gradually quickened, five Americans stayed with the lead pack – Meb, Hall, Torres, Abdirahman and Bolota Asmerom. Meb and Hall led the pack through 11 miles in 54:38 as Abderrahime Bouramdane of Morocco, the 2008 Boston Marathon runner-up, threw in periodic surges that eventually were covered by the pack.

Coming onto Manhattan’s First Avenue, at 16 miles, Ramaala led a break of four men that quickly returned to a 10-man pack. Abdirahman briefly took the lead in the 17th mile, after which point the lead pack began to string out.

A 4:37 split for mile 18 whittled the lead group to six, with Meb the lone American as Abdi, Hall and Torres fell back to eighth, ninth and 10th. Past 30 km, it became a four-man race, with Cheruiyot, Bouramdane, Meb and James Kwambai of Kenya, Cheruiyot’s training partner and a past runner-up at Berlin, Boston and Rotterdam.

Meb made his move at 35 km, covered in 1:47:20, with only Cheruiyuot following him. The two men first ran shoulder-to-shoulder before Meb tucked in behind the tall Kenyan. A few minutes later, Cheruiyot motioned for Meb to take leading duties, but the experienced American wasn’t having it.

Having placed second in New York in 2004 and third in 2005, Meb was running for the win.

When he moved to the lead at mile 24, reached in 1:58:23, he intended not to relinquish it. He had four seconds on Cheruiyot, and that margin only increased as the finish neared.

Running alone for the final stretch in Central Park, Keflezighi celebrated his first career victory at the marathon distance, paid tribute to Shay, and celebrated the return of Americans to the top of the podium.

Tulu wins women’s race
In a race that was expected to be little more than another coronation for world record holder Paula Radcliffe, Ethiopia’s Derartu Tulu emerged a surprise winner. With a conservative pace from the gun, the women’s lead pack eventually whittled down to Christelle Daunay of France, Ludmila Petrova of Russia, Radcliffe and Tulu. It was a quartet of experience, with all four women over 34: Daunay is 34, Radcliffe 35, Tulu 37 and Petrova 41.

Struggling with tendonitis behind her knee , Radcliffe began to flag in the final miles, and it came down to a two-woman race between Petrova and Tulu, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and one-time bronze medalist at 10,000 meters. Shortly before turning into Central Park, with about 600 meters remaining, Tulu pulled away to win in 2:28:52, with Petrova second in 2:29:00 and Daunay third in 2:19:16. Radcliffe was fourth in 2:29:27. Magdalena Lewy Boulet was the top American woman, placing sixth in 2:32:17.

Joan Benoit Samuelson on Sunday became the fastest female marathoner over age 50, finishing in 2:49:09. The 52-year-old’s performance came 25 years after she became the first women’s Olympic marathon gold medalist at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

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Runners cross the Verrazano Narrows Bridge

In the women’s race, world record holder Paula Radcliffe felt a twinge in her knee at mile 11 and hung on with the field, but couldn’t keep up with the surging pace at mile 22. Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia went on to win the women’s race in 2:28:52. Radcliffe finished fourth.

Keflezighi pulled away from four-time Boston Marathon winner Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya in the 23rd mile and built a 41 seconds gap over the last 3 miles of the race.

A record 44,000 runners started the race today, which was run under cool conditions and light rain and winds early in the day. The rain let up near the start of the race and temperatures were in the mid-50s with cloudy skies throughout the day.

We’ll have more coverage coming soon as we compile our notes from the day.

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Here are some links to coverage on our web-site that you may want to visit to get ready for the big weekend:

2009 Television and Broadcast Coverage for New York City Marathon

Will Radcliffe make it three in a row in New York?

Olympians headline list of Americans in New York City Marathon

Joan Benoit-Samuelson returns to New York City Marathon

Ryan Hall to race in New York City Marathon

Photos from last year’s New York City Marathon:

Selected Photos from 2008 New York City Marathon Race Course

Selected Photos from 2008 New York City Marathon Starting Line

Selected photos from New York City Marathon Starting Village

Enjoy the race and look for coverage here on Monday!

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On this week’s episode:
— How does alcohol use impact running performance?
— How does tobacco use impact running performance?
— Why does it seem to be OK for some people to smoke and drink as runners?
— What are Coach Joe’s secret hangover remedies?

To watch the video, just click the play button in the video window below.

Season 2 will bring you 30 more episodes so stay tuned every Thursday on Vimeo, Facebook and on www.running-advice.com.

To visit our video page with links to all of the episodes in the series, click here.

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Llanos wins 2009 XTERRA Worlds

The men’s race was amazing, with all the sports heavy weights battling it out on the dusty slopes of Haleakala. Seth Wealing and Eneko Llanos were the first two contenders out of the one-mile warm water Pacific Ocean swim, followed by Olivier Marceau, Franky Batelier, and Conrad Stoltz.

Per his Maui routine, Stoltz jumped to an early lead on the mountain bike and was the first to hit the infamous “Heartbreak Hill” section at about mile 4, but the chase pack was thick and persistent.

By midway through the 20-mile bike Stoltz was still in front but with a tail that included Batelier, Llanos, Marceau, and Lebrun – one-by-one and separated by mere seconds. Just past the halfway point “Ned’s Climb” takes riders up some 1,400 feet in a matter of a mile to the highest point on the course at where the “Plunge” begins.

It’s here where Stoltz’ has built his legend and the spot where in past years he could put guys away with his fearless downhill riding. This year the course was as smooth as it has ever been and minimized the fear factor for his foes. Not to say that the Plunge isn’t still a gnarly, loose, jagged lava rock riddled stretch, it is – just not as bad.

“This was a tough race, but the bike course was a little smoother, a little faster,” said Llanos, who became the first racer in 14 years to win XTERRA Worlds after competing at the Ironman World Champs. “The course was a little less technical, and I went at a steady pace and it went really well.”

Stoltz cleared the section but didn’t put any time on the lead pack and at mile 15 Llanos and Batelier were right behind him with Josiah Middaugh pushing his way into the conversation just 30 seconds back, and Lebrun and Marceau within a minute. There hasn’t been a race in recent memory here in Maui where six guys were this close this far into the race, and another big name was about to be added to the mix.

Michi Weiss, last year’s runner-up, came out of the water in 79th place a full four minutes behind the leaders, but carved two minutes off his blazing fast bike split of a year ago (1:28:11) to close in on the leaders.

At the bike-to-run transition the spectators lining the lush luau grounds at the host hotel got to see for themselves just how exciting the racing action was with Stoltz, Llanos, and Middaugh all coming into and exiting together. Llanos got the early jump and once he got in front he never gave it up.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect to be this strong,” said Llanos, who finished 14th at the Ironman World Championship in 8:37:55 and captured the Hawaiian Airlines Double award for the fourth straight time. The award is given annually to the pro man with the fastest combined time at Ironman Worlds and XTERRA Worlds. “Just two weeks ago I was really disappointed in Kona, and now here I am so happy. I came here with no pressure and just wanted to have fun and then I felt strong from the swim and had a good day. When I crossed the finish line I couldn’t believe it, how fast feelings change, and something amazing happened and I’m just so happy now.”

Batelier was fourth into transition, then Lebrun, Marceau and Weiss. Any given day and any of the seven could do something special on the run and win. Lebrun did his best, and picked off everyone but Llanos on his way to 2nd place, his best finish in Maui since winning it all in 2005. Middaugh, who hasn’t done a legit training run in nearly a year due to injury, dropped to 9th by the finish line.

Weiss had a really good run, especially considering he was coming off the Ironman two weeks ago (he was 25th in Kona), and moved all the way up to 3rd.

“Last year I felt like I lost the race since I was so close to Ruzafa, but 3rd place was like a victory for me after the Ironman and not knowing what to expect recovery-wise,” said Weiss.

Marceau was his usual professional self and had a solid run to finish 4th for his fifth top 5 in Maui, Stoltz slugged it out for 5th, Batelier hung on for 6th, Felix Schumann worked his way into 7th, and Seth Wealing came across as the top American in 8th.

Dibens wins third straight title
Julie Dibens is a cool cat. She’s calm, collected, confident and an absolute monster on this Maui course. She actually trailed in this race for the first time in two years, with Christine “Big Fish” Jeffrey coming out of the water 38 seconds up, but that lasted all of about five minutes and then Julie was Julie – making it look easy and putting more on more time on her competitors with every turn of the pedal.

By mile 11 she had a four-minute lead and was mixed in with the top 15 men. A few seconds later Brian Smith (one of XTERRA’s all-time fastest men’s mountain bikers) rode by and said “Wow!” – referencing the fact that he was halfway through the bike and Dibens was still in front of him.

At mile 15 Dibens was up by nearly five minutes, it was more than that at transition, and when she finished with a women’s event record time of 2:56:42, the finish line crowd waited another seven-and-a-half minutes before seeing Lesley Paterson. She had the day’s fastest bike split, even better than Marie-Helene Premont (an Olympic silver medalist in the 2004 mountain bike competition in Athens), Shonny Vanlandingham (NORBA’s all-time best) and Melanie McQuaid (a Canadian National Team rider for years).

Dibens is the first pro – man or woman – to win this race three years-in-a-row and joins the exclusive club of three-time winners with Conrad Stoltz, Melanie McQuaid, and Eneko Llanos.

“I felt good all day except for that last stretch of the run on the lava,” said Dibens. “I was able to ride in control and run smart. I’m delighted to be up here on the podium again and to win this race three times in a row is really special.”

In the ultimate display of class, Dibens deflected talking about her own race at the awards ceremony dinner but rather praised Paterson, who she had raced against on the ITU circuit nearly a decade ago, and told the assembled masses that this course was good for her and on any other course Melanie McQuaid could “kick my a#*”.

“To me, Melanie and Jamie Whitmore are still the queen’s of XTERRA and I’m certain these guys out here in the audience feel the same way,” said Dibens.

Lesley Paterson is a rising star in the XTERRA World and had it not been for that one Brit – this race was hers. She finished in the top 3 in all three championship XTERRA’s she entered, however, this result was by far the most impressive and her run split was the fastest of the day by far at 49:50.

“I was real consistent on the bike today and was able to stay with Shonny until the plunge when she took off,” said Paterson. “I worked so hard on the bike this year and it really paid off, and I’m really excited about my finish today.”

For McQuaid, the dream of an unprecedented fourth world title is still just that. She didn’t have a bad day, it just wasn’t enough.

“I didn’t have an amazing day today and you have to in order to win here,” said the 3x World Champ. “I’m not happy with my performance, I just wasn’t snappy enough, but I had a good season.”

Carina Wasle had a breakthrough race here in Maui to finish 4th, her best result in five attempts, and Shonny Vanlandingham raced through a cold to finish in the top five.

Source: XTERRA
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Here is all of the information that you’ll need to watch the race, depending upon where you live and how you want to watch the race.

Global Internet Coverage
On Sunday, November 1, catch all the action live, on UniversalSports.com, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m eastern time. Coverage includes main race, pro men’s, and pro women’s feeds. After the race, the broadcast will be available as an archive for viewing on-demand.

There will also be companion coverage on New York Nonstop, NBC Local Media’s new digital channel, and on NBCNewYork.com.

Local Television Coverage — WNBC 4 New York
The race will be broadcast live exclusively on WNBC 4 New York for five hours. The WNBC 4 New York broadcast will begin at 9:00 a.m. local time with the pre-race warm up and will follow the race through the five boroughs, across the bridges and over to the finish line until 2:00 p.m. A two-hour highlight show will follow on NBC Sports. Check local listings for details.

Television Highlights Show
NBC Sports will broadcast a two-hour highlight show nationwide, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on November 1. Check your local listings for details.

The two-hour highlight show will also be broadcast in nearly 125 countries worldwide. Check your local listings for details.

Check back here for coverage of the race at Running Advice and News!

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In rankings announced on Wednesday, All-Athletics.com ranked American women #1 in the world at middle distance running (800m-1,500m), with our U.S. men ranked #2 globally.

The overall breakdown shows American women leading the world with 7,655 points, followed by Great Britain (2nd – 7,642 points), Russia (3rd – 7,612 points), Kenya (4th – 7,275 points) and Poland (5th – 7,234 points).

Kenya ranks first in the men’s rankings with 7,969 points, followed by the U.S. (2nd – 7,532 points), Morocco (3rd – 7,307 points), South Africa (4th – 7,251 points) and Algeria (5th – 7,162 points).

U.S. women were led to the #1 world ranking in the 1,500 meters by World Athletics Championships bronze medalist Shannon Rowbury and her teammates Christin Wurth-Thomas and Anna Willard, who finished fifth and sixth respectively in the Berlin final. The U.S. sits atop the world rankings with 3,930 points, followed by Russia (2nd – 3,795 points) and Great Britain (3rd – 3,790 points).

Five-time USA Outdoor champion Hazel Clark led U.S. women to a third-place ranking in the 800 meters with a tally of 3,725 points. Great Britain finished first with 3,852 points, and Russia ended the 2009 campaign ranked second with 3,817 points.

2009 World Athletics Championships bronze medalist Bernard Lagat and fellow Berlin finalists Lopez Lomong (8th place) and Leonel Manzano (12th place) led the U.S. men to a runner-up ranking in the 1,500 meters with 3,826 points. Kenya leads the list with 4,047 points, with Ethiopia third with 3,766 points.

Led by 2009 World Athletics Championships finalist Nick Symmonds, U.S. men were ranked second in the world at 800 meters with 3,706 points, with Kenya earning the top spot with 3,922 points. Poland placed third with 3,660 points.

For more information on the All-Athletics.com 2009 Middle Distance Ranking, click here.

Source: USATF
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In the first episode of the season, the coaches catch up on things since the last time they were together and then they get down to business. On this episode, they talk about the value of specialty running stores:
— Why should you visit a running store to buy shoes
— Shoe fitting services
— Shoes for core runners
— Stores as the center of their running community
— Ways the people at a store can help when trouble crops up

To watch the video, just click the play button in the video window below.

Season 2 will bring you 30 more episodes so stay tuned every Thursday on Vimeo, Facebook and on www.running-advice.com.

To visit our video page with links to all of the episodes in the series, click here.

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A local Coloradan from Arvada, Chris Siemers, 28, led the Male field with a time of 2:23:03. Jynocel Basweti, 22, of Kenya, the 2008 Denver Marathon winner, placed second with a time of 2:23:56. Another Colorado resident, Andrew Smith, 33, from Denver, took third place with a time of 2:28:35.

“I had settled for 2nd place, and was more worried about being caught by third,” said Chris Siemers. “At mile 24 I saw my friend Mike Aish (winner 2008 P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon), and he said to me you can catch him, go for it. I threw down my sunglasses and put my head down and went for it. I caught him at 26 so I’m obviously very happy to have come here and won.”

In the women’s full marathon, Holly McIlvaine, 36, of Seattle, WA, took first place with a time of 3:00:26. Ashley Anderson, 25, from Denver, placed second with a time of 3:03:03 and Jeanne Cooper, 31, from Eagle, Colo., came in third with a time of 3:05:42.

For the half marathon, Matt Levassiur, from Alamosa, Colo., took first in the half with a time of 1:08:05; Justin Young, 30, of Superior, Colo., came in second with a time of 1:08:59 and Kennett Kiptoo of Kenya, 29, took third with a time of 1:10:13.
Peris Chumba, 21, of Kenya led the female division with a time of 1:18:53. Cynthia Lauren Arnold, 25, of Glenwood Springs, Colo.,, took second with a time of 1:21:50 and rounding out the women’s division, Elle Pishny, 24, of Durham, North Carolina, took third with a time of 1:23:07.

“Today signified what the sport of running is all about — dedication, commitment and perfect Colorado weather, which made for an amazing running event in the great state of Colorado,” said Anton Villatoro, Executive Director of the Denver Marathon. “Today, we celebrated with the 10,000 athletes who participated in our event and encourage everyone to start training for the first Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon in the Fall of 2010. See you at next year’s finish line.”

Denver to host Rock N Roll Marathon
The Competitor Group announced Friday that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series will officially add the Denver Marathon to its schedule of races for next year. The event will host the Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon, half Marathon and the ING Marathon Relay in the fall of 2010. With the addition of the Denver event, there will now be 13 Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathons and half Marathons in 2010. Each event creates a running block party with live bands performing at every mile, cheerleaders encouraging runners throughout the race, themed water stations, and a post-event concert featuring a headlining act. The events’ festive atmospheres, which combine entertainment and running, all maintain the unique aspects of the regions in which they are held.

The course highlights the cultural diversity of Denver’s communities by incorporating a mix of urban neighborhoods, shopping and restaurant districts, city parks and residential areas. The race course is flat and has little to no elevation change and was certified by USA Track & Field as a qualifier for the Boston Marathon.

Source: Competitor Group
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