New coach, who dis? ⏱

Jan 12, 2022

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USATF XC Champs 🇺🇸

There may not have been a team on the line, but that didn’t stop the country’s grittiest harriers from lining up at the USATF Cross Country Championships in San Diego. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the 2021 iteration of this race was canceled and with it, the World Cross Country Championships. Well, the World Athletics event which is scheduled to be held in Bathurst, Australia, is technically still happening, but it was postponed until 2022…and now 2023.

To the readers excitedly drafting their letter to the editor about the 2021 Championships that occurred last month in Tallahassee — that’s different. Those were the USATF Club Cross Country Championships! (Note the addition of the word “club.”) The United States has been hosting some version of a national meet since 1883, granted it was much less competitive back then since there were only 38 states competing. In 1998, when the World Cross Country meet added a second race to the program, known as the short course (4K), USATF added a new meet to the schedule. Since the non-club version was used to select the international team, it took with it much of the prestige.

Loyal subscribers of this newsletter know I am leading the unofficial committee to get cross country added to the Winter Olympics, and I like the diversity of the short and long course for it. But in 2006 World Athletics eliminated the short course and then after 2011 made the boneheaded decision to make the World Championships a biennial event. Despite these changes, USATF has maintained the two pronged approach to Cross Country Championships.

My proposal: Combine them, again.

The Club Championships are a pilgrimage for local level runners. That makes it a missed opportunity for the masses to not be lining the course screaming for the professionals. In a non-qualifying situation, like this year, the meet would greatly benefit from more fans and more exposure. Additionally, maybe the consolidation of resources would increase the prize purse to something respectable. Earning $2,000 for a national championship is embarrassing and sends the clear signal to athletes that this event isn’t valued. All but a few athletes lose money choosing to compete here, even after running well enough to podium.

Let’s continue to create more racing opportunities for athletes. But as advocates for professional cross country, maybe we have to take one step back before taking two steps forward because this event deserves more hype and more attention.

The race itself took place on a scenic beachside course beside San Diego’s Mission Bay, and featured 2km grass loops over undulating, twisty terrain — it wasn’t easy. In the men’s race, a pack of four stuck together until the final moments despite aggressive attacks by Sam Chelanga in an attempt to open it up. Whipping around the final turn and navigating lapped runners was a now-unsponsored Dillon Maggard. But in his shadows was eventual race winner, Shadrack Kipchirchir.

This was a nice welcome back for Kipchirchir, as it was his first race since March 2021. Prior to the Olympic Trials, he suffered a left calf injury that kept him off his feet for 7 months. To win a national title in what was essentially a rust-buster should serve as a reminder as to just how good Kipchirchir is. The 2016 Olympian at 10,000m had top-10 finishes at the World Championships in 2017 and 2019. After the race, Kipchirchir shared that he and his wife, Elvin Kibet, who also trains with the American Distance Project, are expecting their first child together.

🎶 Some people wait a lifetime, for a moment like this 🎶

Okay, so it wasn’t too long of a wait for the OAC’s Alicia Monson to win her first race as a professional — besides, qualifying for the Olympics probably helped ease that pain. After a fall season that included a USATF 5k championship and record breaking runs at the Manchester Road Race and Boston 10k for Women, Weini Kelati would have been considered the pre-race favorite.

However, after an honest early pace, Monson separated on the 4th loop and opened up a 13 second lead. In comparison to the men, whose final lap was by far their fastest, the ladies left it all out there from the gun. Monson ultimately kept Kelati at bay to win her first national title by 17 seconds. This event is a rare opportunity for US women to run 10 kilometers in a cross-country race. It should come as no surprise to anyone that isn’t dressed up as a quack doctor from the 1920s that all the women who completed the distance survived.

RIP Deon Lendore 🇹🇹

There is heartbreak in the track and field community this week following the passing of Deon Lendore, 29, who was killed in a tragic car accident on Monday. Lendore represented Trinidad & Tobago in the last three Olympics and was a five-time NCAA Champion while competing for Texas A&M. Athletes and fans are mourning the loss of a truly great competitor and person. Our deepest condolences to his friends, family and teammates.

Steph Bruce retires 🔜

All too often track athletes announce their retirements three months after they’ve hung ‘em up, so we never have the collective opportunity to appreciate their body of work and celebrate their final competitive moments. Compare this to the likes of baseball, where Derek Jeter was treated to a proper farewell tour — he got a standing ovation every stadium he strolled into, and even received a bucket of steamed crabs from the Orioles and a kayak from the Rays. Steph Bruce, 37, shared an emotional and informative blog this week detailing the reasons for making the 2022 season her last.

She was recently diagnosed with Bicuspid Aortic Valve disease, the most common form of congenital heart disease. This scary prognosis will require careful monitoring moving forward, but thankfully will allow her to continue running. Bruce also cited her and her husband Ben Bruce’s desire to add to their family of four, and with some newfound perspective made the decision to move onto the next phase of life next year. What Steph is calling The Grit Finale, will be a fun and fan-filled celebration of a wonderful career. And of course it will all be documented via her YouTube channel.

Our sport does a wonderful job of commemorating an athlete’s performances once they hang it up. An Olympian who struggles for years afterwards will always be an Olympian and one’s strongest personal bests will lead every description of her accomplishments. And rightfully so, let’s remember that Steph ran 2:27:47, had multiple top-10 finishes at world majors, and finished 6th at the 2020 Olympic Trials. But we as a community can do a better job at recognizing those who were stalwarts of improvement, consistency and inspiration for the length of their career. In such tradition, Bruce was 5th at this weekend’s USATF XC Championships — let’s see what else she can achieve in her final competitive year.

Didn’t break the tape ⚠️

Kenya’s Norah Jeruto is a nimble steeplechaser who is pretty good at staying on her feet — like when she won the 2021 Prefontaine Classic in 8:53. But if you drop the finish line banner at her ankles right just as she crosses it, then even someone with her athleticism will get tripped up. At least the race sponsors got some additional attention! Jeruto kicked away from Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal, who was fresh off her European XC victory, to win the 10k event in Valencia in a time of 30:35.

In the men’s race, Daniel Simiu Ebenyo won the event in 26:58. After placing second at the 2019 Kenyan Trials, Ebenyo was not permitted to compete at Worlds because he did not meet the AIU out-of-competition testing to no real fault of his own. This past year he represented Kenya at the Olympics in the 5,000m, but did not qualify for the finals. He hasn’t yet run a 10,000m on the track, but would it really be much of a step up for someone who used to a 24km commute to and from school every day?

In partnership with STOKE

Going to be at the Houston Marathon/Half Marathon this weekend? Make sure to stop by Koffeteria Coffee Shop on Saturday (1/15) morning to hang out with top pro runners (and just great guys) Ben Flanagan and Rory Linkletter, grab some STOKE Elite Nut & Seed Butter, and even get your pre race shakeout run in. STOKE will be out providing samples of their multi nut & seed butter that is formulated to support optimal physical and mental performance at the event to fuel the run. Hope to see you there!

The Midnight Mile 🌚

If at this point you haven’t already watched the 8-minute long video documenting Nick Willis’ attempt at his 20th consecutive year of running a sub-4 minute mile, then it’s your own fault if I am spoiling it: This was a painfully close 4:00.22. (While I’m at it, Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father.)

When the author of this GQ article contacted me on background for his article, I wasn’t initially going to be mentioned as a talking head. My only role was to help provide him some context about how freakin’ cool it is to be this good for this long. Off the cuff I made the comparison to Willis being track and field’s Cal Ripken Jr., and it fit perfectly. I was willing to be quoted on that — he is our Iron Man. Going 20 years without a year off due to injury is just as impressive as running a 3:49 mile or playing in 2,632 consecutive games.

Now, not to be an armchair quarterback, but if I was Nick, I would have tried to run a little bit faster! More specifically over the crucial first 7 laps. It was set up so that he needed a 27.5 last 200m and that’s a tall order during a time trial in an empty stadium at 38-years-old. In Nick’s defense, I also had Covid recently and despite being asymptomatic while sitting in bed watching Succession, it felt like my lungs had smoked a pack a day once I made the return to running. The good news is that a failed attempt only helps build the drama. What’s better than one Tracksmith commercial? Two!

Do a Victory Lap!

Are you familiar with the Madden curse? Generations of star NFL players have pulled up injured or saw their playing time severely diminished after the honor of gracing the popular video game’s cover. Well, if our goal with The Victory Lap has been to support athletes, then our Friday morning premium newsletter has become a good luck omen.

Folks, allow me to introduce you to the Victory Lap Anti-Curse. (I’m still workshopping the name.) This week Puma announced the signing of marathoners Sara Vaughn, Dakotah Lindwurm and Annie Frisbie, as they continue to reintroduce themselves into the world of distance running after a decade or two focused primarily on the sprints. As the brand has invested more in product innovation, it’s necessary to have the soldiers on the frontlines showing that this stuff actually works.

And in what was a classic retaliatory move during the ongoing Dassler family sibling rivalry, Adidas went ahead and signed Nell Rojas to their roster. You may remember her from the front of this year’s Boston Marathon or more notably – the Victory Lap. Oops, we did it again!

Do you have an interest in supporting elite athletes? Subscribe to our Friday morning premium newsletter! This week we speak with Carrie Verdon coming off a 9th place finish at USA XC. Her personal bests of 15:18/32:09/2:31 were all performed while balancing the life of a first grade teacher. This initiative has now raised over $16,300 with all proceeds going towards the athletes whose stories we share.

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Look at these races! Just look at them!

It takes an architect’s precision to craft a great Wanamaker Mile field. This race isn’t intended to be a Boston University-esque time trial — we want competition! In my opinion, one of the less interesting races in recent Millrose memory was in 2019 when Yomif Kejelcha narrowly missed the indoor world record, running 3:48.46. He won by 5 seconds and ran the second half all alone. It’s not his fault no one else was as fast, but even before that massive gap formed, it was a foregone conclusion that he’d dominate.

There are many reasons it’s better to have this meet at The Armory rather than a half-empty Madison Square Garden, but the fact that the track uptown is far faster isn’t in my top-10. This historic meet should be all about the spirit of racing. There have been some truly historic battles at Millrose over the years, and the 114th running should live up to that precedent.

There’s additional intrigue since this will likely be the season opener for many athletes. We are at the point in the training cycle where everyone thinks they’re in the best shape of their life and no results can provide a reality check yet. Bring together a dozen or so exceptional competitors at their most confident — founded or not — and that’s going to be a hell of a show.

Stinson leaves Dathan, joins Roots

For the last three years, former Oregon Duck and now-Saucony-sponsored distance runner Parker Stinson has trained under the guidance of Dathan Ritzenhein. During their partnership, Stinson ran a marathon personal best of 2:10:53 at the 2019 Chicago Marathon and set the 25k American Record. The always transparent Stinson has admittedly struggled over the past year and recently announced his decision to amicably part ways with Coach Ritz. In this short interview he shares that he’ll be joining the Roots Running Project to train alongside the likes of Noah Droddy, Frank Lara, and Sydney Gidabuday. Enjoy this short Q&A:

I know this was a big decision. Can you walk me through your thought process? How did this all play out?

I know you’d assume it was after Boston, but it wasn't like that at all. I was actually quite fit during that build up. But I was depressed and unhappy, which doesn’t normally happen for me when fit.

So I started to ask myself critical questions about why I was feeling that way. I’ve been running since I was 10-years-old and these were new feelings. I saw some red flags around my relationship with running and a critical question I considered was if I was still in a situation that made me happy. I love Dathan, but it simply wasn’t making me happy.

I was doing a lot of running alone and pushing harder than ever before. Before Chicago, Dathan would fly out from Michigan to watch my workouts. It was a different relationship, but his job is to coach the On Athletics Club now and I completely understand that. It’s a full-time job. Like any relationship, I know what it used to be like, and it wasn’t the same anymore — that's hard.

How did you first broach the subject with him? Knowing Dathan, I would imagine he was really understanding about the whole thing.

Well, after Boston went the way it did, we had a great talk about changing my situation. But three months after, I still felt that same unhappiness with my relationship with running. It was hard knowing that I’d have to branch off and do marathon training on my own — I didn’t want to do that again.

What I eventually asked Dathan that opened our eyes was, “what kind of things were you thinking about when you decided to retire?” That was the signal for both of us. He acknowledged it was okay to have those thoughts, but he believed there is much more for me to do in the sport, especially with three years remaining on my Saucony contract. We dissected why I felt that way and worked together on my next move.

When did you first consider the Roots Running Project as your next logical step?

I actually spoke with Richey [Hansen] a few years ago about joining when I left Brad Hudson, so there was already previous interest there.

I was honest with him and let him know I need a lot of help right now. I am decently fit and I’m not trying to be a diva, but I need support and energy right now — and for him to be excited about coaching me. I gave him the out and said, “if you can’t do that, I totally get it, but that’s the most important thing to me.”

I asked almost nothing about his training. I trust him and have seen the success he’s had. But I needed to know if he wanted to add me to the roster for my stats and PBs or if he was looking to invest in me as an individual, which would come with the issues I was having. With Dathan’s blessing after their conversations, I felt great about the decision

Do you feel fortunate to run for a brand like Saucony that gives you flexibility to change groups as opposed to being locked in?

I really like it.There are problems with being locked into a group contract. What if you love the group but don’t love the coach? There’s nothing you could do. The reason I signed with them was because I loved what Molly [Huddle] and Ben [True] were doing. They’d crush on the track and roads or wherever they could make money. I wanted that same agency over my career.

It’s early, but what are your initial impressions of Roots? If I had to buy stock somewhere right now, I think it’d be there.

With Sid [Vaughn] and I joining it’s like, we are just two people, but it changes the dynamic. Let’s just say Frank [Lara] and Luke [Caldwell] run solid marathons. If you average out we can have 5 guys averaging out at 2:12 and then you have other non-marathoners like Sydney. There’s momentum. I’ve only gone to a couple practices, but I am already feeling happier. I already had a great tempo that was 10 seconds per mile faster than I would have thought I was capable of.

Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥

Scottish miler Chris O’Hare has announced his retirement. In addition to what is almost certainly his career highlight of being a 2x champion at the Long Island Mile, he also qualified for the Olympics! Chris certainly ran fast during his career (3:32/3:52), but more importantly, he knew how to win. This is how you command a race from the front! In an off the record text he told The Lap Count, ‘It seems like our generation is dropping like flies — the ultimate sign we are getting old.’ Ugh!
3:52 miler Pat Casey announced his retirement and will now be coaching Under Armour Dark Sky in Flagstaff, AZ. Pat’s first sub-4 minute mile was run completely solo at a dual meet indoors at Montana State — at roughly 4,800’ of elevation. (Video) And at Big XII’s in 2013, Pat won both the mile and 1,000m prelims and before he and I lined up against each other in the DMR. I got the stick ahead of him and ran 3:59, closing in :55, but in his third race of the meet, he still got the win. The next day he won the 1,000 and mile finals. The mad man then lined up for 3000m. He didn’t win that one.

Seven alternates from Hakone Ekiden winner, Aoyama Gakuin University, went sub-1:03 in a half marathon.
Jared Ward shared that he was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease, an autoimmune disorder. In addition to starting a gluten free diet, Ward admits his hesitancy about supplementing his thyroid given the perception such medication has within the distance running world.
The Houston Half and Full Marathon are both this Sunday. The fields are absolutely loaded and it’ll be streamed on ESPN3.
Aleksandr Sorokin breaks the 100-mile and 12-hour world records running 105.8 miles at 6:32 pace.
Ethiopia’s Addisu Yihune and Dawit Seyaum won the legendary Campaccio XC race in Italy.
The Boston Marathon announced the 2022 elite women’s field and it is ridiculously stacked with talent and names. (Post)
Kenya’s Edinah Jebitok and Nicholas Kimeli won the Elgoibar Juan Muguerza XC race in Spain this weekend. Between October 24th and January 6th, there have been eight World Athletics Cross Country races held in Spain. Can we get an American athlete to go post up over there for a bit? I’ll subscribe to your YouTube channel. Watch this video to appreciate how cool the races are!

Thank you loyal subscribers for reading this week’s newsletter! And thank you to COROS for sponsoring Lap 45 — I am obsessed with my new watch. It’s the perfect motivation to get my runs in during these cold winter months.