ING New York City Marathon cancelled

EXCLUSIVE: Pre-New York City Marathon Interview with elite runner Molly Pritz!

Molly Pritz and her crew. Photo courtesy of Brad Hudson

I recently had the opportunity to talk with ASICS America's Molly Pritz about well...not exclusively running, so let's just say I had a chance to interview her. As one of the nation's top runners, she's done quite a few interviews lately, but many of them don't truly capture the essence of Molly (full disclosure: this woman is my best friend, and she's absolutely hilarious, and I wanted to try to show you guys that side of her too. And to be honest, I talk to her multiple times per week, but no one wants to hear those conversations...seriously).

Women's Olympic 1500

Women's 2012 Olympic 1500m final Source

Oh boy, here we go again. I hate to be the person who rants all the time, but those of you who know me know that I love watching mid-distance just as much as I love watching distance. Can't run MD for crap, but watching it is fun. You don't have as much time to get into it the way you do a distance race, but they have all the tactics and strategy that distance races have, and they can take on different personalities the same was as distance races. A 100m dash is always fast. That's not to say it's any less exciting, but you know it's going to be fast. A mid-distance race, like a distance race, can involve a furious pace from the gun (a la the men's 2012 Olympic 800 that we just saw, courtesy of David Rudisha), or it can start slow and tactical and end with the kind of dead sprint to the finish that every kicker hopes for (a la the women's 2012 Olympic 1500...more on that later). Plus male mid-distance runners are beautiful and female mid-distance runners have the body I wish I had, but I digress. So, needless to say, I was watching the women's 1500. For those of you who missed it, the 1500 opened in a pedestrian (for them) 75 second jog. The race itself didn't start until the bell lap...which is when Morgan Uceny fell. At the end of the race, former doper Asli Çakır Alptekin emerged as the winner. Fail. Fail fail fail.

Support your athletes, guys!

Lolo Jones finished fourth in the 100m hurdles Source

A few days ago, the New York Times published a scathing article on Lolo Jones. Jones was torn apart for being all style, no substance. Then, when she finished fourth in the 100m hurdles finals, the haters jumped on the opportunity to say "I told you so," pointing to her disappointing finish as proof she was overhyped and overrated. It's really shameful to lose to favorite Sally Pearson, who won in an Olympic record time, you know.

But wait. Can we step back for a second? Jones' "failure" meant that she finished fourth at the Olympics. For now, she is fourth in the world. Sure, this is a sport where there is really only one winner, and where the top three get hardware and glory while fourth gets to pee in a cup, but let me repeat that for you. Fourth in the world. Allow me to quote Allie Kieffer here:

GALEN RUPP TAKES SILVER MEDAL!

Galen Rupp (silver) and his training partner Mo Farah of Great Britain (gold) Source

RUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!

Full results after the jump.

Molly Pritz 1:10:45 at San Fran Half!

Seeing as track hasn't yet started in London (well, except for the athletes, because for them it started a long time ago), allow me to steer your attention towards the San Francisco Half-Marathon, where Molly Pritz, running for ASICS, went 1:10:45 to shatter the old course record and set herself a new PR...in the middle of marathon training. Which makes it all the more impressive because running marathon pace for 13 miles is a pretty tough thing to do during marathon training. You heard it here first...that girl is going to be the next big thing. Better update later when I'm not at XC camp in the woods with spotty Internet.

Another Contest! (not mine this time though)

Just giving you guys a heads up that Molly Pritz is running a contest on her blog for anyone who can guess her finishing time at the San Francisco Half. If you need something to work with, her stats are here, though keep in mind she's not tapered for this one. Good luck!

Click here for details and to enter!

New pro runner blog for you all to read

Oh hey, look who has a blog! Click the picture to check it out!

2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials

Got this picture from my friend Aimee's Facebook page. I'm assuming it's her picture?

Thanks for the inspiration. Now go get 'em in London!

Results

2012 Olympic Marathon Team Trials...and another exciting announcement!

First of all, everyone get stoked for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Team Trials! It all goes down this Saturday in Houston, with the men's start at 8:00am and the women's start fifteen minutes later at 8:15am (both CST). Unfortunately, the most important US marathon of the year won't be televised live. Instead, it will be shown on NBC from 3-5pm EST (same day coverage). Seriously, this is the Superbowl, because it picks the best in the nation, and then the top three go on to the Super-Superbowl in London where they face the best in the world. Can anyone imagine what the backlash would be like if the only Superbowl coverage was a two-hour highlight reel shown six hours after it actually took place? Such is the plight of being a fan of this great sport that most of America has no interest in watching.

More on Footstrike and Some Other Random Stuff

Actually I lied with that title. I don't really have any comments on footstrike. Just some fun with the video camera after the jump. Video was taken after a run, so I was tired enough that this is my natural stride, not some stupid thing I decided to make up for first five minutes of running. All of this was done at my relaxed easy day pace. There were also a lot more run-throughs than the eight here, but I just grabbed one from each direction/view/shoe when I was editing. Camera is a Canon something or other (that really narrows it down...I feel like the people who go into a running store and say "My current shoes are Brooks."). Shoes are the Brooks Launch and Brooks Pure Connect.

Where your dreams become reality?

Just for a moment, let me redirect you to Leah @ Chasing Atalanta's blog.

I've been banned on the LetsRun message board for defending my friend Molly Pritz. I'm not even going to get into what I think of the LetsRun community's treatment of an up-and-coming young woman who is part of a bright future of American distance running because all it does is get me frustrated. In all honesty, it's probably just a handful of people, but it truly sickens me. Anyway, like I said, that's all I'm going to say about that topic, because negativity countered with negativity doesn't solve anything, and my energy is better spent supporting Molly in other ways.

But this latest thing is just pathetic. This isn't the anonymous cowards of the message board...this is actually on the news page.

"Just how easy is the standard for women's US marathon trials? Well, a 4:08 marathoner can do it."

Dude, WHAT?! I don't want to talk about whether the women's B-standard is "soft." That's not why I'm writing this post, and it's an entirely different can of worms anyway. Yes, I understand that the main purpose of the Trials is to choose the Olympic team, but let's face it, a 2:19 guy is a really long shot to crack the top three too. What I do want to talk about is LetsRun's treatment of a woman who no doubt worked her ass off to achieve her dreams. LetsRun's tagline is "Where your dreams become reality," yet now they're going to tear down the accomplishment of a woman who did just that?! As well as the accomplishments of many other women who worked hard in pursuit of that same goal (not to mention those who sacrificed so much, yet still fell heartbreakingly short)? Brojos, do the right thing, fix the news story, and apologize to Erin O'Mara. And to Erin, congratulations on your accomplishment. However hard you had to work to take well over an hour off your time...well, clearly you deserve this, and no one, including LetsRun, can take that away from you.

‎Molly Pritz in 2:31:52 for top American at NYCM!!

Molly Pritz just went 2:31:52 at the New York City Marathon, for 1st American and 12th overall! In her marathon debut no less too.

12 122 Pritz, Molly PA/USA 23 2:31:52 +08:37.12 5:48


Flotrack video after the break.

Picture courtesy of Runner's World

New Design and Countdown to NYCM

Yes, you are at the right blog. Well, you're at the right blog if you're looking for that blog with all the shoe reviews that used to have a picture of 2006 Pre-Nats in the background.

5 days until the Freshman Class (Molly Pritz, Lauren Fleshman, Bobby Curtis, and Ed Moran) make their marathon debut at the New York City Marathon. Don't miss it.
Elite men's field: http://www.nycmarathon.org/pro_men.htm
Elite women's field: http://www.nycmarathon.org/pro_women.htm

That is all.

Quick update and new links

I just noticed that the #1 search term leading people to my site this week has been "Kara Goucher." (In the past, it's almost always been something related to Brooks). So, in an attempt to send people where they want to go, go here if you're looking for my review of Goucher's book, here if you're looking for Goucher's Competitor.com blog, and if you're looking for confirmation that she has left Alberto Salazar and the Oregon Project for Jerry Schumacher and OTC Elite, no need to go anywhere, because I'll confirm it right here. I also got really excited that maybe I was one of the top results in a Google search for Kara Goucher! No dice...I don't know how people are getting here.

In other news, I've updated my links page with a couple of the other blogs that have caught my eye recently.

Paula Radcliffe's 2:15:25 No Longer World Record

Paula Radcliffe at the 2003 London Marathon (Getty Images)

Apparently the IAAF has decided that mixed races can no longer count as a women's world record. Instead, performances from those races can only be considered a world best. World records can now only be set in a women's race, since male pacers can help a woman run a faster time. This is being applied retroactively, so the world record is being stripped from Paula Radcliffe's incredible 2:15:25 performance at the 2003 London Marathon. That's 5:10 pace in case you're wondering. It wasn't even until 1958 that any men were able to run that fast! In its place, it is being awarded to Radcliffe's 2:17:25, which is her third best time for the marathon (Radcliffe has also gone 2:17:18). Imagine someone told you that your PR is no longer your PR. Instead, your new PR is actually your third best time, and your fastest time no longer counts. It used to count, but it doesn't anymore because we just changed the rules and are going to apply them retroactively. You still ran the time with your own two legs on a legit course without the aid of performance enhancing drugs, it just doesn't count because there were guys in the race. (Apologies to my male audience, but just try to work with me here.) Now imagine that you're the greatest female marathoner this world has ever seen, and that your PR can no longer be considered the world record. I am disappointed.

Galen Rupp 26:48.00 AR! ...and also a Brian Sell video

Whaaat?!

This photo is not mine. It belongs to Steve Richie of steverichieontrack.com. And that mask belongs to Galen Rupp, who is one BAMF.

Gear Review: Running for the Hansons

 

You don't graduate from Bucknell University without being at least somewhat of a Hansons fan. My first exposure to the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project was in 2003, my freshman year, when I somehow managed to make the travel squad to a cross-country meet in Detroit (I have no idea how that happened...I sucked freshman year!). My coach, Kevin Donner, had previously coached Brian Sell at St. Francis University and took the opportunity to introduce him to our team. Additionally, one of my teammates, a fellow freshman, had run for Sterling Heights High School in Michigan, and had been coached by Kevin Hanson, one of the two founders and coaches of the Hansons team. Then, a few years later, my best friend and college running partner Molly Pritz was accepted to their program (to be fair, she's gotten a lot faster since college, and training with her post-collegiately often involved me getting dropped). At this point, anyone who ran for the Bison kind of becomes a Hansons fan be default. So when I heard that Hansons runner Sage Canaday was putting out a book about his experiences with the team, I ordered myself some reading material.

Molly Pritz is the 2011 USATF 25K National Champion!

Molly Pritz, of the Hansons Brooks Distance Project, won the Fifth Third River Bank Run in 1:25:38 to become the 2011 USATF 25K National Champion! And just in case this isn't impressive enough, she just did it at 23 years old. Expect big things from this girl in the future. Check out the interview on Runnerspace.

Sorry for the long deadspace between updates. End of the semester = exam week and other craziness. I have a good one in the works, just have to proofread it.

Mollyyyyyy!!! 1:12:14!!!

Molly Pritz of Hansons-Brooks Distance Project ran a 1:12:14 for first female at the San Antonio Rock N Roll Half Marathon! That's also her 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier (by almost 3 minutes...sick!). Congratulations Molly!

That's also four out of the last five posts that Molly got her name in. You better love me, Molly.