2011 USA Championships

I was on the road over the weekend and missed MOST of the coverage, so I've been playing catch-up. A few things to go over though:

Amazing how many runners get "food poisoning" before big races. Alan Webb, Shalane Flanagan, Heidy Lazano, Meb Keflezighi, Ben Bruce, and now add Christin Wurth-Thomas to the list.

Christin blames food poisoning AND insomnia for not making the team(although she's not making excuses). She took the race out fast w/ a 62 opening lap and had a large lead until, oh 100 to go, and was then passed by 3 ladies, and did not make the Worlds team.

When asked about the race and why she took it out so fast, she said that's what she's been doing in practice, she thinks sit and kick tactic is stupid, and run what your capable of running. Well, 62, 66, 66, and 68 last 400, is not exactly smart pacing. She went out too fast and died a horrible death. Her competitors sat, and kicked, and beat her. Was fun to watch though. And I love lists of excuses followed by, "But I'm not making excuses." She's a fiery competitor, if nothing else.

1 Morgan Uceny adidas 4:03.91
2 Jennifer Simpson New Balance 4:05.66
3 Shannon Rowbury Nike 4:06.20
4 Christin Wurth Nike 4:06.21
5 Emily Infeld Georgetown University 4:08.96
6 Treniere Moser Nike 4:09.72
7 Brie Felnagle adidas 4:10.33
8 Katherine Follett Brooks 4:11.92
9 Jordan Hasay Oregon 4:12.66
10 Anna Pierce Nike 4:12.84
11 Gabriele Anderson Brooks 4:17.17
12 Jackie Areson unattached 4:25.04



The men's 1500 was brutal. They went 66, 66, 54, and 52 last 400(see how that works Christin). A tight pack through 1000m with a lot of jostling that would be talked about a lot in the post race interviews. Oregon Duck Matt Centrowitz took a pretty surprising win over the likes of Lagat, Leer, Torrence, Manzano, and Wheating. I wouldn't have picked him to make the team even.

Afterward everyone except Centrowitz was crying about the bumping and slow pace. Will Leer and AJ Acosta were especially vocal, which I loved. AJ called everyone a bunch of babies while crying about being bumped. Leer did apologize the next day saying he was wrong. No word from AJ on his sarcastic bashing of teammate and winner Centrowitz.

1 Matthew Centrowitz Oregon 3:47.63
2 Bernard Lagat Nike 3:47.96
3 Leonel Manzano Nike 3:48.16
4 Andrew Wheating Oregon TC Elite 3:48.19
5 William Leer Nike 3:48.20
6 David Torrence Nike 3:48.31
7 Lopez Lomong Nike 3:48.54
8 Dorian Ulrey Arkansas 3:49.02
9 Kyle Miller Nike 3:49.38
10 Jordan McNamara Oregon TC Elite 3:49.61
11 AJ Acosta Oregon 3:50.02
12 Evan Jager Oregon TC Elite 3:50.11
13 Michael Hammond Virginia Tech 3:55.69



I'll have more tomorrow on the races, and Letsrun.com's hypocrisy and criticism of Flotrack. It's starting to piss me off.

QUOTE OF THE YEAR

"I don't drop out of races."

- Chris Solinsky right after dropping out of the Pre Classic 10k and disappointing
the masses (me especially).