2011 Prefontaine Classic - photos and write-up

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Yesterday was the first day of the Prefontaine Classic 2011 in Eugene, Oregon. Today, June 4, was the main day with about a couple of dozen events. Things kicked off with a powerful rendition of the national anthem. First up was the women's pole vault followed by the women's triple jump. Below is the lineup for the triple jump event which was eventually won by Olha Saladukha of Ukraine as a gift to herself for her birthday which was today.

If two events are boring, you can always wait a bit and soon enough you'll see a third or fourth event. All at the same time. A good exercise in multitasking your eyes and brain. Below is the lineup for the men's discus event. Robert Harting of Germany won with a 68.40m throw.

The women's shot put (lineup in photo below) was won by Nadezhda Ostapchuk with a 20.59 effort.

While the field events were in progress, the international men's mile kicked off. Ryan Gregson of Australia won with a strong finishing kick and finished in 3:53.86. Eight of the total nine runners in the race finished in sub-4 times.

As soon as the mile finished, hurdles were put up by the officials. Not the bad kind, but the good kind and for a good purpose - the men's 3000m steeplechase. Below is a photo of some of the runners on their way. Ezekiel Komboi of Kenya won in a time of 8:08.34 beating Paul Koech, the current meet record holder, by well over a second.

This was followed by the women's 400m hurdles. Lashinda Demus (seen below) won with a 53.31s effort. Next was the men's 800m. Abubaker Kaki of Sudan (not shown) won in blistering time of 1:43.68 thereby setting a new meet record.

The men's high jump took to orbit while the track events continued. The eventual winner was Raul Spank of Germany with 2.32m. Below is the lineup.

While the high jumpers continued, the women's 1500m event started. There were some good headwinds at points during the race and the meet record (or any other record) was pretty safe. There was some incident that happened around 150m away from the finish where there seemed to be some tripping but I wasn't able to catch a good glimpse as it was half way across the field. Here's a shot of Gelete Burka battling with Maryam Jamal on the final straightaway. Burka won in 4:04.63. Morgan Uceny finished third.

Here's Burka after her victory.

The women's javelin was won by Christina Obergfull with a 65.48m effort. Here's a shot of the lineup.

The men's long jump was won by Greg Rutherford of England with a 8.32m jump. Irving Saladino of Panama failed to complete a single legal jump. You could see the frustration on his face even from afar. It just wasn't his day. Here's the lineup before they started.

The men's 100m hurdles was looked forward to by the Chinese segment of the crowd as seen in the photo below. The placard translates to "Liu Zhang, go for it". This was the second time for Zhang at the PreClassic, if I remember correctly. The last time which was a couple of years ago, he got disqualified for a false start and that was a great anti-climax.

No such anti-climax this time. However, David Oliver decided he wanted first place, with a time of 12.94s beating Zhang by 6/100 of a second.

Next up was "Blade Runner" seen below, aka Oscar Pistorius of South Africa. Here he is lining up for the 400m race. Pretty darn impressive when you see him run like that in real life from 100 feet away. Watching it on TV is one thing but it's only when you see it in real life, you think a little bit beyond "Wow!"

Pistorius put up a good show but Angelo Taylor took the race in 45.16s followed closely by Jeremy Wariner. Pistorius finished last in a time of 46.33s.

After the 400m came the men's 2 mile race with a lineup of, among others, Bernard Lagat, Eliud Kipchoge, Tariku Bekele, Matt Tegenkamp. Here's a short of part of the lineup.

Here's another shot during the race. Meanwhile, Reese Hoffa won the men's shot put with a 21.65m effort and Hayward Field extended its record as the home of the most 70+ feet shot put throws.

Here's the 2 mile race again, this time in the final 100 meters with Lagat battling Koech. Lagat won comfortably in 8:13.62 and got a very loud round of applause. However that was nothing compared to the applause the last place finisher got. High school kid Lukas Verzbickas who finished about 16 seconds behind Lagat. If you didn't know, you'd have thought the applause was for Usain Bolt breaking 9.50s. The Eugene crowd is absolutely wonderful. No wonder Verzbickas is joining the University of Oregon in Eugene. He got interviewed by the presented Katherine Clark and came across as a shy but nice young kid. Hopefully Eugene and the PreClassic will see more of him.

Carmelita Jeter won the women's 100m with a 10.70s effort which was better than the meet record. However the wind had been pretty strong and I don't know if that has been ratified as a new record yet. Jeter also won the Maria Mutola award and here she is being interviewed by Katherine Clark, who did a great job throughout.

Below is the end of the men's 100m race. Steve Mullings of Jamaica won in 9.80s. Justin Gatlin finished 6th and he did get a good round of applause at the beginning of the race. No high is better than the runner's high.

Here's Mullings again. Happy as a bunny. A real fast bunny. This was followed by the women's 800m (not shown). Kenia Sinclair won in 1:58.29. Caster Semenya, making her first appearance in a while, ran a good race and finished second, about 0.59s behind. She was probably around fifth or sixth with about 200m to go before she kicked it up a level.

Here's a shot of the men's 200m in progress. Walter Dix won in 20.19s.

Another shot of Dix after he finished. Next was the women's 400m (not shown). Amantle Montsho won in 50.59s. Allyson Felix finished third and Sanya Richards Ross was fourth. There was a false start at the beginning and it seemed to be Felix. The guys sitting behind me were totally convinced it was Felix. I did see her leg move or twitch a bit but in the end, the officials decided to not charge it on any one. An official walked around to each athlete with a green card held up in her hand, apparently indicating that the athlete was good to go. A bit like the yellow and red card you see in soccer.

The final race of the day - the Bowerman mile. Below is a shot of the starting lineup. Haron Keitany of Kenya won in 3:49.09. Asbel Kiprop finished third after picking it up from fifth or sixth place with about a 100m to go.

Thus ended another great edition of the Pre Classic. Nice, warm, and sunny day in Eugene. About 75F. Of the five times I've been to the PreClassic, it's rained only once and that too at the very end. Who says it's always raining in Oregon?

If you're interested, you can read my write-ups from earlier years - 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007.

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Prefontaine Classic 2011 special event - photos and writeup

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As seems to have become the annual norm, we found ourselves in Eugene, Oregon this weekend for the 2011 Prefontaine Classic. This year was a bit different - they had a special set of events on Friday, a day before the actual event on Saturday. Three events, each with an amazing lineup of runners - mens 25k/30k, womens 5,000m, and mens 10,000m. The cool thing was Friday's events were free.

We got there a couple of hours before the event started only to find out we needn't have. As can be seen in the photo below, we found a grand total of one other person there. The weather was great however and killing two hours was easier than guessing which event Galen Rupp would be running.

We could have picked any but one seat in the stadium. I picked the one right next to the finish line, literally about 15 feet away - much less than what Irving Saladino will likely long jump tomorrow. While waiting around for the start to arrive, I took a bunch of pictures of the various equipment. Here are some finish line cameras, probably meant for photo-finish decisions. Too bad there were any today.

First up, at 6:40 p.m., was the mens 25K/30K combo. The lineup included, among others, the recent 2:03 Boston marathoner, Moses Mosup. He was going to go for a world record in both. The 25K and 30K world records were both set by Toshihiko Seko of Japan back in 1981. Here's a photo of the start.

Mosop was definitely on a mission. Eugene also decided to cooperate - both in terms of the weather and the spectators. Each of the 76 laps that the runners finished was accompanied by a good round of clapping and cheers without fail. Each and every single round. Soon, the lead pack dropped to four as seen below.

Mosop keep hammering away and about the half way mark, the lead pack was down to two - Mosop and Joel Kimurer - seen in the photo below.

World record attempts require a different kind of personality. Mosop embodied it today. Lap after lap, you could see the power emanating from his legs and the intensity in his face. At some point, Kimurer decided to get water only to see Mosop break away a bit further.

A bit further became a bit more and then a bit more and soon enough, the crowd was on its feet cheering Mosop, first onto a 25K world record (1:12:25) and then a 30K world record (1:25:47). There was no stopping Mosop today and somebody probably knew that this would be the case and went ahead and got a T-shirt made well in advance. (Also notice in the photo below that there's still someone running in the race much after Mosop finished his victory lap.)

He was beaming brighter than a 100W bulb. Seems like a really nice guy - something you wouldn't be able to tell looking at the intensity on his face throughout the race. Here's a close-up of him.

Summer days are long at this latitude, but at some point, the stadium lights had to come on. As far as I can remember, this was a first for the Prefontaine Classic, which is usually held in the mornings.

The men's race was followed by the women's 5K with a huge lineup of about 20 runners including Cheruiyot, Dibaba, Cherono, Flanagan, Goucher, Masai, Kipyego, and several others. Vivian Cheruiyot won in a handy time of 14:33.98. Here's Cheruiyot and Masai lapping Amy Yoder-Begley on their way to a 1-2 finish, followed closely by Mercy Cherono.

Cheruiyot again, breaking the finish tape.

She seems like a really nice person. While on her post-victory lap, someone handed her their baby to take a photograph with. Then, after she finished, someone did the baby thing again. Here's a photo below. Trying to inspire the baby or trying to get some of the DNA from the sweat to rub off onto the baby? Anyway, she was a real sport and posed with the baby for the longest time.

Another thing I found interesting was this camera at ground level right at the finish line. Here's a shot below. Does anyone know what it is for? Photo-finish decisions? Motion activated or remote-controlled photography?

The final race of the day was the men's 10K. Pretty big lineup again. Funny thing is that the handout showed Galen Rupp, the big stadium scoreboard showed Galen Rupp, but reality decided not to show Galen Rupp. I don't recall any announcement either. Here's a shot at the start of the race.

At one point, the pacesetters were apparently going too slow and Tedesse of Eritrea decided to kick it up a notch by himself. After 25 laps of some exciting action, during the course of which, some people dropped out or dropped back, Mo Farah of England hit the final straightway and put in a pretty good kick at the end to win the race.

He reminded me (a bit) of Bernard Lagat with his big smile on his way to breaking the tape. I took a very similar picture of Lagat about 2-3 years ago when Lagat won the 2 mile race at the PreClassic. Farah was joined by his daughter afterwards. The announcer seen below talked to him for quite a bit. Sorry I don't remember her name but apparently she was an Olympic medalist for England in 2004 (I think). If you know her name, please let me know.

In the absence of Galen Rupp, Chris Solinsky was definitely a crowd favorite. However, he dropped out due to some reason. Here he is, in the photo below, presumably explaining the reasons for his doing so.

At almost close to 3 hours, this was about the same as the main PreClassic event usually is. A great day and some great weather. Some great performances. Hopefully this was just an appetizer to tomorrow's weekend brunch.

I wrote this in a hurry. So, please excuse any typos and do let me know so that I can rectify them.

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Best temperature for running?

This is a neat little infographic on what the ideal temperature is for running a marathon. According to it, 53F seems to be the best. Keep in mind this is a set based on runners at the New York City Marathon. Nonetheless, it gives you some idea. Temperature doesn't affect everyone in the same way. Elite runners are not affected as much as slower runners are. However, what I found most interesting was that the runners between 4:00 and 4:30 hours seem to be the least affected (after the elites). Look at how even the circles are in that diagram for the runners in this segment.

Personally, I've always felt my best running comes when the temperature is between 50 and 55 F. Haven't done any detailed study to narrow it down any further.

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New York marathon live on the web, TV, and phone

This year's New York marathon will be broadcast on the web, TV, and the phone. The even have an iPhone/iPad app. I remember watching the London marathon live on the web about three years ago. It was pretty disappointing. The quality was bad - low resolution and very jittery. Hopefully this one is good. Haile Gebrselassie is in the field this year. Here's to a great show.

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Guys crashing women's road races

An article in the Wall Street Journal on how some guys run women's races. Here's an excerpt:

"To discourage male interest, many women's races present trophies only to female winners. Goodie bags often contain feminine-cut T-shirts, along with swag like perfume samples, chocolates and pink sandals. One race is giving away feather boas and tiaras.

Ahead of its Oct. 2 inaugural half marathon, Run Like a Diva announced that finishers' medals will be awarded by bare-chested male firefighters. "We had four men signed up, but two dropped out when they heard about the firemen," says Mr. Pozo, the race organizer. "We're making this race so girly that men won't want any part of it."
"

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Tabata workouts - results from the last time

I started doing the Tabata protocol workouts back in late spring but never got around to posting the results. So, here goes:


Last week of May - 19:56 5K
Next week: 30 miles with Tabata
Next week: 40 miles including last Tabata workout
Next week: 7 miles
Next week: 22 miles and 19:37 5K at the end of the week
Next week: 11 miles and 19:05 5K at the end of the week

Probably ran a total of one or two tempo pace runs in the last three weeks. All the others were at 8:00-9:00 pace. Yet I was able to get the time down from 19:56 to 19:05 within about five weeks. I think it was probably a combination of the Tabata workouts and cooler weather in general. Plus the fact that the workouts probably took some time to pay off, i.e., the results aren't like instant noodles. Anyway, some time not too far away into the future, I'm planning to give this another try.

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Is running an expensive hobby?

Like most things in life, the answer is it depends. It's like going out for dinner - you have a whole range from a $5 fast food meal to a $100 meal at a fancy restaurant. Let's take a look at how things add up.

For the most basic running, you need a pair of shoes, shorts, and a shirt. Some may argue that some or all of these are optional, but I think it's safe to say that for 99% of runners these three things are the most essential. Say $30 for shoes, $10 for a simple shirt, and $10 for shorts. You're looking at about $50 and that's about as low as it gets even if you get stuff on clearance. How long will this last? Assuming a runner does 20 miles/week, he gets 1000 miles in a year. Let's say he gets 1000 miles from his $30 shoes which is stretching it for most people. Assume he can get by on wearing the same shirt and shorts for the whole year. With all these assumptions, he can get by with $50 a year. Typically this is not the case.

Most people spend $40-$80 or more on a pair of shoes. Typically shoes get thrown out after anywhere from 300 to 500 miles. Most runners usually have two or three pairs in use at any given time. Shirts and shorts - most people probably have a few of each and more likely than not, these are technical fabric, which means upwards of $25-30 for shirts and upwards of $20 for shorts. Let's do some numbers again:
- 4 pairs of $30 shirts = $120
- 4 pairs of $20 shorts = $80
Say they last you for 5 years. In 5 years, say you go through 10 pairs of shoes at 20 miles/week and 500 miles to a pair.
- 10 pairs of $40 shoes = $400
So, that's $120 + $80 + $400 = $600 over 5 years for an average of $120 a year.

Of course, the costs go up the more you run and the more expensive shoes you get. For a 40 miles/week runner, the $400 above goes up to $800 which, in combination with the shirts/shorts, works out to $200 a year. If you're a serious marathoner logging 80 miles/week, you probably go through 10 pairs of shoes in a single year. That means anywhere from $300 to $800 or more on shoes alone in a single year.

So, all this was just considering the three "essentials". Now, let's throw in more stuff that runners typically need or use:
- watch - anywhere from $15 to $300 (for the GPS ones)
- hat - $10-$20
- sunglasses - $10-$200
- gels - at about a buck each, it depends on how much you run and need
- mp3 player - $10-$100?
- sunblock - $5-10 a bottle
- ointments for all those aches and pains - $5 a tube
- race entry fees - $10 to $100
- extra food to meet all that extra nutritional demands
- extra showers means extra costs on your water and heating bill
- rain, winter, or snow gear if you live in those kind of places. Those things are particularly expensive.

Now it's not looking that cheap, is it? But, is it worth it? I say, totally. Think of all the extra health benefits. Better health means less time/money spent on medical appointments and costs. Many a time, a runner will just run down the neighborhood street to run an errand (dropping off a DVD rental, dropping off some mail, etc.), thereby saving money/fuel that would otherwise be spent on driving. More time outdoors mean more vitamin D. Runner's high means you increase the total happiness quotient on the planet. I could go on and on but I'm sure there are many such benefits all of which add to the fact that I've never heard anyone say "don't be a runner, it's too expensive."

How much do you spend on running?

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Does it take longer to warm up as you get older?

Based on my own experience, I say yes. Back in my 20s, I could get out of bed and go for a run at a sub-7:00 minute pace right away and I'd alright. Now that I'm in my 30s, it seems not so easy to crank out a sub-7:00 right out the door. My latest experience was on an 8-mile run. I started slow as usual (8:30-9:00 pace), gradually increased the pace, and then tried to run the second mile at a 7:00 minute pace. To my surprise and utter disappointment, I was panting at the end of that mile. It was very slightly uphill but not so much that I should be panting like a locomotive engine. Anyway, I continued thereafter at about an 8 minute pace or so. Just over half an hour into the run, I had recovered enough to run mile 5 in 6:28 and mile 6 in 6:22 and at the end of that, I could still have run another sub-6:30 mile. What a difference some additional minutes make. A complete turnaround. I'm thinking that by half an hour or so, my system (legs, muscles, etc.) had warmed up sufficiently to facilitate a better performance. Anyone else have a similar experience?


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Running on the track - lane etiquette

Lately, I've been going to the nearby high school track for a few odd laps occasionally. It's a nice, new rubberized track, the kind you see in an national/international meet. Unfortunately, however, very often I see people walking in lane 1 regardless of whether the other lanes are being used. I see two things wrong with this.

Back in my university days, the track on campus used to have explicit signs for at least two things - 1) Slower walkers/runners keep to the outside lanes and 2) Don't use lane 1 if you're not on the track team (or something to that effect).

Rule 1 should be somewhat obvious to anyone who uses a highway/freeway. It's simple consideration. The faster runners are probably timing their laps. If you're walking, it's best not to get in their ways. However, sadly, I do see a lot of folks that don't seem to care, more so on the track than the highway. People walking in lane 1 while chatting with their partner or on the cellphone. (Similar to a highway sometimes, isn't it?)

The campus folks were pretty good, even stringent at times, in enforcing rule 2 to the extent that they would block lane 1 altogether by putting up hurdles all around. After talking to some knowledgeable folks, I found the reason for doing so was to prevent wear and tear. Apparently, it is pretty expensive to lay out a track like that (upwards of $100,000) and the lifespan is less than 10 years. So, the idea was to make it last longer. Apparently, lane 1 is the most vulnerable. I guess this would be something like a carpet which starts to wear first from the edges.

Other than that campus, I've rarely seen any such signs on high school tracks. I wonder if it is because 1) they don't know, 2) they don't care, or 3) the lane 1 wear concept is a myth. I'm inclined to think it is 1.

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Running barefoot

Recent online exchanges with some friends and acquaintances got me interested in barefoot running again.  I also managed to find a track within running distance. So, for the last couple of weeks or so, I've been running a few (3-5) laps barefoot on the track occasionally during my regular runs. Last time I did some was over six years ago. It was surprising how easy it was to get up to speed. Bear in mind though that this is on a rubberized track and I am not running much more than a mile for now. This week, I covered 200m faster than Usain Bolt covers 400m. It took me about 34s to do so barefoot, the same it took me to do so in shoes. Similarly, I was able to cover 100m in about 14.5s - the same for both, barefoot and shoes. The shoes are a bit old and heavy - over 1100 miles and over 13oz each. Factor in maybe half a second for that. Still not bad with regards to what barefoot was able to do. Not yet ready to put in a mile at a fast pace yet. Exhilarating experience however; it feels as though you are flying. I'm going to keep at this and see how it goes.


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High heels lead to shorter calf muscles

Interesting link about how high heels can damage leg tendons. Excerpt:

Researchers looking at leg sonograms of women who frequently wear 2-inch or higher heels found that these women had calf muscle fibers that were an average of 13 percent shorter than their flat-wearing counterparts.

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Prefontaine Classic 2010 - photos and write-up

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This weekend, I went to see the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon; the fourth consecutive year for me.This edition was a special one since the Pre Classic is now part of the IAAF Diamond League. The day was beautiful - blues skies with occasional clouds, and a gentle gust of wind or two once in a while. Not too warm either. A sold out crowd (they apparently had to build some 500 additional seats at the last minute) and there you have it - all the elements for a great start to the July 4th weekend.


The first event was the women's hammer throw. It is not part of the official IAAF Diamond League any more. However, the Prefontaine Classic decided to have it anyway, albeit as a separate event. It started at 11 a.m., before the Pre Classic which was at 12:00 noon. The meet kicked off with a powerful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by someone from the Eugene Symphony (I think). Incredibly powerful vocal chords. That's him on the live display screen of the stadium.

The first official event was the International Men's Mile. It had a large field with at least four wearing Oregon colors including AJ Acosta and Galen Rupp who drew some enthusiastic crowd support. Unfortunately, green wasn't the one to win. Ryan Gregson of Australia won in 3:53.19 followed closely by AJ Acosta who was 0.57 second behind in a new PR for him by over four seconds.

In a compressed 3-hour meet such as this, you always have multiple events on at the same time. At some points, we could see a track event, a shot put, a pole vault, and a long/triple jump simultaneously. The men's discus throw event was won by Piotr Malachowski of Poland with a 67.66m throw. The men's shot put winner was Christian Cantwell with 22.41m, adding yet another notch to Hayward Field's record as the reigning home of the most 70 foot throws anywhere in the world. Nadezhda Alekhina of Russia won the women's triple jump with a 14.62m effort.

From where we were, it was a bit difficult to see the pole vault on the other side of the field because the protective net for the discus throw was up. This is what it looked like through the net. Fabiana Murer of Brazil won the women's event with a 4.58m effort. Too bad Yelena Isinbayeva couldn't make it. Murer gave a nice interview where she looked genuinely happy and thankful to the crowd for their support.

The women's 5000m was won by Tirunesh Dibaba in 14.34.07. Shalane Flanagan put up a great fight to overtake a few over the final lap and ended up in second place. That's Dibaba below gliding her way to victory.

The men's 1000m was the next event. Abubaker Kaki of Sudan had gone on record in his intention to set a new world record. Nick Symmonds, the local favorite was there. So were Alfred Yego and Boaz Lalang. In the end, Kaki was the victor with a 2:13.62 effort, about 1.66 seconds off the world record. Valiant effort nonetheless. That's Kaki below followed by Lalang, the second place winner. Symmonds hung back for the first half as usual, but kicked hard in the last lap to finish third.

The women's 400m hurdles was next. Lashinda Demus took victory with a 53.03 in a new Hayward Field record and a PreClassic record. The women's steeplechase followed soon. Milcah Chemos of Kenya won with a 9:26.70 performance. That's her in the photo below followed by the eventual runner-up, Marta Dominguez of Spain.

Next up was the women's 800m, this time without the perennial contestant and favorite Maria Mutola who retired a couple of years ago. Mariya Savinova of Russia made sure that Mutola's name was mentioned by breaking her 13 year old meet record by 1/100th of a second. Here's Savinova on her way to victory.

Irving Saladino won the men's long jump with a 8.46m jump beating out Dwight Phillips by 5cm. Last year it was Phillips who won and Saladino finished second. The men's 110m hurdles was won by David Oliver equaling the current American record of 12.90s. Oliver was elated. Big smiles and big victory celebration.

This was followed by the women's 100m event pictured below. Veronica Campbell Brown of Jamaica took victory in 10.78s.

The men's 5000m started soon after with a strong field - Tariku Bekele, Kipchoge, Solinsky, Tegenkamp, Merga. Solinsky looks much bigger than the rest in real life. Almost like a rugby player in comparison. The race itself was exciting. The Hayward Field crowd kicked into high gear in the last couple of laps and pulled Bekele in for a 12:58.93 win. Gebremeskel followed barely 0.37 second behind.

Two sub-13 performances and the first time ever on American soil as the announcer told us. That's Bekele in the photo below on his way to number one. I wonder if Bekele has ever raced his brother Bekele.

Needless to say, a new Hayward Field and PreClassic record. Solinsky however looked totally spent afterwards. Here he is lying on the track with a concerned meet official looking over him. Matt Tegenkamp is the background a few meters away.

The men's 200m race featured Tyson Gay, Walter Dix, Shawn Crawford, Churandy Martina, and Richard Thompson among others. Dix won in 19.72 followed by Gay 19.76. The post-race interview featured both Dix and Gay. Gay said that he was happy with the result and that it was "not bad for my first race." I guess that was his first race of the year?

The women's 400m was another tightly contested race. Allyson Felix beat out Amantle Montsho by 0.03 second. The third place was 0.01 second behind that - Shericka Williams. Here's a photo on them on the final straightway.

The event that everyone looks forward to at the end of the meet - the Bowerman men's mile - started on time, in fact, about 15 seconds before the scheduled time of 2:47 p.m. The announcer informed us that until then Hayward Field had seen 221 performances under 4 minutes. A spectacular field lined up as usual, under the sunny Eugene sky. The biggest cheer, however, for Andrew Wheating who lined up for his last race wearing the University of Oregon uniform. What a race it turned out to be. The crowd played a big role, especially when they all got up on their feet for not the last, but the last two laps. That finishing stretch was just like you see on TV - incredibly fast and powerful, almost like a Bolt sprint. Kiprop and Laalou battled it out with Kiprop edging ahead to win by 0.49 second. Here's them on their final sprint.

Check out the super-thin legs of Kiprop. I read somewhere on the Internet (and therefore it must be true) that the "bird-like legs" act as a powerful lever and and push you forward real fast. Funnily enough, I was talking to a high school kid today who mentioned he can't really run because he has thick calves.

The race was amazing. I can't do a byte-based description well enough to do justice; you should have been in the stadium to have experienced the atmosphere. It was louder than a stadium filled with 40,000 vuvuzelas. Wheating came through in a PR-shattering 3:51.74. He gave a nice interview at the end where he said that now he knows that he has it in him and that "I think I can run with the big dogs". That's him below waving to the crowd on his way out.

Another year, another great meet. A few meet records, field records, soil records, and American records. Everything but a world record. It was a great experience as usual. Nutrilite didn't seem to have their tent from last year with all the good stuff. I guess recession hit them too. Lots of people. For some reason, I noticed there were a lot more kids hanging around to get autographs and photographs of the athletes on their victory lap. I think it was Kara Patterson, the javelin throw winner, who spent at least 15 minutes doing that. Great overall entertainment for less than the price of a movie and a dinner. A great start to the weekend and as always, we made our way to the best ice-cream in Eugene, Prince Pucklers.

If it interests you, here are my reports from 2007, 2008, and 2009.



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