XC, Track & Newsletters, OH MY! ⏱

Mar 17, 2021

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Daily reminder I’m doing nothing with my life 👨‍🔬

Oh yea, Marty? Well I bet you didn’t watch 8 hours of TikTok videos yesterday. The 2:08 marathoner slash 4th year medical student just asked, ‘How bad do you want it?’ and I said, ‘not that bad.’

Couch-to-Olympics Training Plan

And only 24 miles and much faster to go! A hearty congratulations to Aliphine who gave birth to her daughter, Zoe, this past January. Although the future 2021 Olympic marathoner’s first run may not look that fast yet, you have to consider that’s sub 8 at sea level. Will be following that #hashtag closely!

#SaveClemsonXCTF

Look, Clemson…you made a mistake. It’s fine! We’ve all made mistakes before. But Russell Dinkins is not going to sleep until you make it right. So please stop making him torch you in Tracksmith articles and fix it.

Athletes, enjoy your single week off 🚌

After a well-deserved break after cracking the British 800 record this winter, Elliot Giles has a decked out Mercedes camper fueled and ready to go. Rumor is that his covers 800 meters about 1.05 secs faster than Craig Engels’s van.

Hmmm weird apology 🐸 ☕️

If there’s one thing Nike is good at it’s making commercials and trying to fix their PR issues with multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. Think of all the money that could have been saved and the mess that could have been avoided if maternity leave was protected in contracts from the beginning.

Never took the gloves off 🥶

‘I don’t see the splits, I just run.’ Wesley Kiptoo took the race out in 2:01/4:06, which buried the field, while I buried the lede — the guy wore gloves indoors! This is Dave Wottle levels of #branding. Of course he also wore them to his 3rd place finish at the NCAA XC meet on Monday, which he took out in an insane first kilometer of 2:31.

USA 🇺🇸 vs. Great Britain 🇬🇧

This graphic is inspirational mood board material for Neil Gourley and Ben Blankenship, but that’s a testament to how competitive these teams would be. If I am the Mayor of the Penn Relays, then this race is an utmost priority in 2022 (that and making sure it’s not taking place on the same weekend as the Drake Relays). On paper today the Union Jack may be favored, but the USA is known to pull off the occasional upset.

In case anyone else forgot…

Has it been that long since Doha 2019? Is 19.50 really that forgettable? Or are we all too distracted by college kids running flashy times to remember the pros have been hibernating this winter?

BRAIN HURDLES: St. Patrick’s Day ☘️

Let’s play some trivia! Can you name where these Irish athletes attended college?

John Treacy
Sonia O’Sullivan
Ray Flynn
Mary Cullen
Ciara Mageean
Ciarán O´ Lionáird

Designing shoes in Paint 👟 ☁️

ASICS is fully committing to this whole cloud thing, huh? It looks like the Kiwi and 59 minute half-marathon man may have a new weapon in his artillery as the arms…err foot race amongst the shoe giants continue.

Meet Angel City Elite 👼 🏙

It’s important to remember that occasionally shoe companies also do really cool things, like supporting new running clubs such as Angel City Elite. Kudos Brooks! The LA based group is creating opportunities for female BIPOC athletes. And based on nothing but speculation, I’d expect many more brands investing in the sport as we slowly climb out of this pandemic and towards the 2028 Olympics.

That is one way to describe a special performance

Couldn’t imagine sending this week’s newsletter out without acknowledging just a couple of the performances that dropped my jaw this weekend: the Ducks in the men’s NCAA Mile and 3000m

Trivia Answers: 1. Providence; 2. Villanova; 3. East Tennessee State University; 4. Providence; 5. University College Dublin; 6. Michigan/Florida State

A letter from the editor/only person who works here

There was a lot of action to cover this week in the sport and one weekly newsletter is hardly enough to do that perfectly. If you’re a diehard running fan who is craving more content then I’d also suggest subscribing to: Fast Women, Citius Mag, The Morning Shakeout or Race Results Weekly.

I am humbled by the response and traction The Lap Count has received and am excited to keep growing this thing — Big thanks again to Railroad Athletics for stepping up as the first official sponsor!