Road Rash: Kenyan and Ethiopian Men Continue to Demolish All-time Lists

There have been many theories and guesses for why sub 27 10,000 meter runs and sub 12:50 5,000 runs are on the decline: Might it be the effectiveness of the new EPO test? The presence of inferior pacemaking? The retirement of a few doped athletes? An unavoidable cyclical down period after the great talents of Haile Gebresalassie, Paul Tergat and Daniel Komen? Those three and the other Kenyans and Ethiopians of the mid to late 1990s hit astonishing marks and rewrote the all time track and field record books in a revolutionary fashion . Now, the view is there must be something (for cynics, a pharmacological something) behind it, as the times remain out there only challenged by Kenenisa Bekele. At face value, it is unmistakable that today's Kenyan and Ethiopian distance runners are not matching the great achievements of their predecessors.

The funny thing about the whole discussion is, well....

5'th Avenue Mile Preview: What are the Odds...?

"New York!!!!Concrete jungle where dreams are made of...These streets will make you feel brand new"- Empire State of Mind by Jay Z ft. Alicia Keys

OK, so it's probable that Jay Z and Alicia Keyes didn't have a bunch of skimpily-attired elite runners racing on 5'th Avenue in mind when they glorified the city streets in their oh-so-overplayed anthem about New York City. No matter. This year, the New York Road Runners, assembled two unusually strong and deep fields to contest the world's biggest and best road mile this Sunday afternoon on 5'th Avenue. To break down the men's and women's races, I am going to use fair gambling odds to assess the favorites, contenders and dark horses on both the men's and women's sides.

Column: Commissioner of Track for a Day

The unceremonious dismissal of USATF CEO Doug Logan really got me thinking. Track and Field is a sport struggling to draw spectators, and establish interest beyond it's one moment in the sun during the Olympiad every four years. Even with charismatic stars like Usain Bolt, track really struggles to draw a television audience and any mainstream interest in non-Olympic years. To try and fix that, I pondered what I would change if I were in charge of professional track and field. What are some of the ways to liven up the sport, make meets more fun, and keep all of the competition interesting? Though, I can't presume to be Pete Rozelle, here are some of the key changes I'd make in no particular order:

Weekend Half Recap: The Ageless Wonder Does it Again

I don’t know if you can remember much from the dark ages of 1993. I know I can’t. The most I can vaguely recollect is nap-time and a few rooms at school that as a 5 year old I identified by color. Still, as much as things have changed the last 17 years, many things remain the same. To whit, a Clinton is negotiating peace in the fractious Middle East, a much-ballyhooed new Windows operating system has been released, and Haile Gebresalassie is at the forefront of the distance running world- winning in style. Sure, there has been some evolution in all of these developments: For the first, it is wife Hillary, not the then-newly-inaugurated President Bill, now doing the honors, and for the second, it is Windows 7 being released and not 1993's Windows NT 3.1, which has probably found its way into the Smithsonian displayed with the telegraph by now.

It's Half Time

At the intersection between the 10,000m track/road races and the big city marathons, there is the half marathon distance. The event is often intriguing with track runners and marathoners uniting to compete against each other at the distance. As the summer track and road circuits wind down and big marathons approach, the time is ripe for some major half marathon showdowns to take the spotlight. On the slate this weekend are two of the biggest half-marathons on the schedule. The Philly half features the best American Marathoner in Ryan Hall, who will be taking on 2009 World Cross Country Champion and 2010 champion of the road circuit, Geb Gebremariam, as well as stud marathoner Abderrahim Goumri. In the women's race, 2008 Olympics 10,000m Bronze Medalist Shalane Flanagan takes on Ethiopian track superstar Meseret Defar, who is making her debut at the distance. Elsewhere World Half Marathon Bronze Medalist, American Dathan Ritzenheim takes on the living legend, Haile Gebresalassie, in the BUPA Great North Run. Should make for some exciting racing, and look to see if the hour mark is challenged by the two male Americans, and if the more seasoned Flanagan can challenge Meseret Defar. More on these two great competitions after the results and races are through.

Off Beat: Twitter Madness (track and field edition)

As the old saying goes, you can judge a person by the content of his.... tweets. Alright, maybe not, but for the purposes of this off beat edition the most reprehensible of all new media will take center stage. My twitter interest was sparked by NFL tweet king Chad Ochocinco who tweeted this gem just this morning (or is it mourning for the apparent rapid decline of our civilization?): "Hello world, be great today, find a way to be productive at something? If u a hoe,be a great hoe". I'd like to say "thank you, Ocho" for those profound words. If Angelina of Jersey Shore can be a bartender who does "great things" and Ocho thinks a hoe can be "great", I can only hope a track and field blogger writing about twitter can hit that lofty and elusive standard in modern-day culture. Now, onto track and field's best and most essential tweeters after we identify the worst and most disappointing of the lot:

The Three Comebacks: Webb, Willis, and Kamel

If you looked at the seasonal bests and ignored the names on the start list, the 1500 in Milan at the end of last week would seem to be at best a "B" level race for the equivalent of the pro circuit's weekend warriors. A glance at the names and the corresponding pedigrees of some of the athletes, however, revealed a race lineup with intrigue and some potential impact on the upcoming three years of global championships.