My local legend⏱

Lap 35: Sponsored by Xendurance

Life after professional running is much easier in some ways and signicantly more difficult in others. For one, sitting at a desk isn’t as physically painful — which is nice. However, working for 9 hours straight is a bit more than I was accustomed to. Using Xendurance Focus has been an effective new tool to help me in a new sort of race — the rat race!

I took Xendurance protein powder for years while competing, but now it’s become the bridge between my morning dose of exercise and a late breakfast. My life no longer revolves around training so my replenishment is now happening on the go. If you find yourself crashing late in the day, then you could probably use some help with recovery.

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(This is good for one-time orders and is not valid on team subscriptions or Team XND membership)

There is no such thing as too much Kipchoge content

Honestly, you should probably just stop reading this newsletter right now and re-read this article by Cathal Dennehy every Wednesday instead. Although we have collectively raised Eliud Kipchoge up on a pedestal so high that no human could ever reach it, he seems to be handling it quite well. For those of us who have never lived such a spartan lifestyle, it is easy to glorify it from afar. The emotions I feel hearing about the way he operates echoe what I experienced reading Once A Runner or Walden back in high school. Oh, how badly I wish I had never created that Dyestat account back in the early 2000s, so that I could now possess the unplugged attitude and mental fortitude necessary to live as simply as Kipchoge does!

When I was competing, I learned that after two weeks of even modestly monastic living that the cabin fever would set in and when it broke, it broke hard. Life is about sustainability — it’s one thing to work hard for a single week or month, but what could you maintain for an entire season, year or career?

If you’re a current athlete and this article got you fired up, good. Bottle it up and take sips out of it everyday. But know that this is the exception, not the rule. Aspire to make small incremental changes to your lifestyle that will help improve your running in the long run. But like fitness, these habits aren’t formed in a day. Talent comes in many forms, and being a measured stoic who doesn’t celebrate after winning the Olympics requires a generational ability that’s just as rare as having the engine to run a 2:01 marathon.

Gone in 60 minutes 🏎

This weekend NAZ Elite’s Alice Wright took down the British record for the one hour run on a track in a time of — I mean — a distance of 17,044 meters. The time trial was just over 68 laps long, and even at ~5:38/mile pace, that’s much longer than anyone should ever spend on a track.

The previous record was set 21 years ago and without looking it up, probably hasn’t been attempted many times since. But these one-off fun challenges always make for a good brand moment and serve as great tuneups for the bigger events that are circled on the calendar later in the season.

In September 2020, Mo Farah set the men’s WR for the hour run while racing Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, and simultaneously measuring himself against Haile Gebrselassie’s old record. Farah ended up narrowly edging out Abdi by 8 meters, and past Gebreselassie by 45 meters. While I have no real concept of what 17,044m or 21,330m in an hour is worth — we are still out here talking about it!

USATF 5k Championships - Abbott Dash

If you’re not opposed to waking up early back-to-back weekend days, then Saturday morning in Central Park will be a nice warm up with deep fields tackling 5k (streaming on USATF.TV)! It’ll be a battle between some recent big race winners like Weini Kelati, Grayson Murphy and Erika Kemp with loads of talent to challenge. On the men’s side we’ll see headliners like Matthew Centrowitz, Paul Chelimo and Drew Hunter, but we KNOW Biya Simbassa is fit and ready. In comparison to the marathon, these matchups feature athletes in all different phases of their season. Every marathon should incorporate side-races into the build-up to the main event — make it a festival!

Interested in supporting athletes? On Friday morning in our premium newsletter we will be publishing a conversation with Molly Bookmyer ahead of the NYC Marathon. Sign up to read as this initiative has now raised over $13,400 with all proceeds going towards the elite athletes.

Conference Rundown

• The NC State (#2) women show themselves as a legitimate national contender, scoring 22 points at ACCs — a conference with three top-21 ranked teams. Based on their athletic department-created graphic, they’re giving plenty of credit to the shoes! FSU’s Adriann Wildschutt won the meet by 16 seconds, but the Notre Dame men scored a low of 32 points.

• The Iona men won their 31st straight MAAC Championship, while the women extended their streak to 6.

• At the Mountain West Championships, New Mexico (#1) women scored a perfect 15 points. The Air Force men safely landed atop the podium.

• In the Big 12 meet the Oklahoma State (#5) men took down Iowa State (#2), but both teams combined for the ENTIRE top 10 of what is normally a super competitive conference. The Cowgirls made it a sweep with a nail-biting 1 point victory over the Cyclones.

• The Minnesota (#6) women, led by a Megan Hasz victory, took the Big10 crown, which is the only conference with 5 ranked teams. The Wisconsin (#10) men won the long course team title, with sophomore Bob Liking taking top honors in the 5.2 mile race

• The Colorado Buffs probably had a fun Halloween party after sweeping Pac-12s with Abby Nichols notching another victory after her Pre-Nats win. Stanford’s Charles Hicks made national headlines by taking down some big names to win. It would appear that 27:47 10k guys are also good at XC, even at 4000 ft of elevation.

• At SECs, Arkansas (#15) won the women’s race and men’s (#6), but Alabama grabbed the individuals with Eliud Kipsang and the defending NCAA XC champion, Mercy Chelangat.

• BYU performed as you’d expect at the WCC meet — good days for Conner Mantz and Whittni Orton!

• The men’s top ranked team, NAU, won the Big Sky team title behind the individual champ, Drew Bosley, who finished a couple steps ahead of Nico Young. The women also won with Taryn O’Neill taking W.

• Butler’s Simon Bedard and Geogetown’s Maggie Donahue sprinted away from the fields to lead their respective teams to wins at the Big East meet. Although they were last year’s winners, this was a massive run for an unranked Butler.

• At the best college conference meet in the country, the Princeton (#18) men dominated in what was the final race in their home course’s history. The squad’s 9th man finished 15th overall, but it was the Crimson’s Matthew Pereria who will have the 8k record forever. The unranked Harvard women scored 37 points and Yale’s Kayley Delay won the individual Heps honors.

• Running through the line with my woes! The Drake men had a fun time going 1-2 up front and winning their first team title in 22 years. The Loyola women rambled to a score of 26 points going 1-2-3.

• The George Washington women won the first A10 title in the program’s history with La Salle winning the men’s. (If I forgot YOUR conference championship, then please tweet or instagram tag @thelapcount to let us know what happened and how angry you are.)

New York City Marathon Weekend

Sunday, November 7th - 8:30 am EST - ESPN2/ABC - Field

They saved the best World Marathon Major for last! The 50th running of the New York City Marathon is on this weekend and it’s the one day a year when I half-consider doing something as stupid as signing up to run one myself. There are many ways to enjoy the festivities, but my personal favorite has always been whilst eating bagels and lox at a watch party outside a Brooklyn brownstone near mile 8. Then I hop on the Q to 96th st and race over to mile 18 on First Ave before sprinting across to the entrance of the park after mile 23. If you want something way easier, just hang out stage-side near Columbus Circle. You’ll see the full range of human emotion with a quarter mile left in a marathon, but no matter if it’s Geoffrey Kamworor or some dude who wrote “STEVE” on his shirt and is walking off a cramped hamstring — they’ll all hate you for suggesting the finish line is right there!

Interview: Gary Muhrcke

I had the distinct privilege of chatting with a local New York hero, Gary Muhrcke – the race’s first ever champion and a true legend and staple of the city’s running community – before this weekend’s particularly historic running of the New York City marathon. If you know your trivia, then you know that in 1970 he won the first ever iteration of the race, which was at the time four laps of Central Park, in a time of 2:31:39. It’s just incredible to hear how much has changed (there were only 55 finishers then, now there are over 50,000.)

When I was 16 years old I walked into my local running store in Huntington, Super Runners Shop, and asked him if I could have a job selling shoes. He said no and I ended up working the cash register at Stop & Shop instead. Years later he made it up to me by being a host family for The Long Island Mile and of course welcoming my call for a quick conversation.

Kyle: Obviously the race has changed a lot since 1970, but what’s been the biggest surprise?

A: I think the biggest change is that in 1970 it was a race and I don’t think most people race anymore. Maybe 99% of people are doing it for health or contributing for charity. On the athlete side, we were basically amateurs. We trained very hard – pretty damn hard. Everyone was an amateur and had a job. Most people in the race today are that way, but they’re not as much about the competition. Also now there is money for the athletes up front and there was zero money that came in for us.

K: Do you think the participants appreciate what’s going on up front? How do we make that happen?

G: I am sure most don’t care. I was walking in the park during the Corporate Challenge a couple years ago. And one of the pro level guys who was going to win it ran past and on the other side were just people walking to the race – and I asked a guy, ‘do you know or care who wins?’ And he said he couldn’t care less.

K: When did you see that wave of new people entering the sport?

G: It was right after Frank [Shorter] won the marathon. Then all the mass participants started, with Bill Rodgers and Fred Lebow. They’re the people who turned it on and generated the sport to what it is. Then on the women’s side it was Joan [Benoit Samuelson] and Grete [Waitz].

K: Do you think the athletes care that there isn’t more attention?

G: The athletes are just trying to make a living and they know they can’t make a living for a long time in the sport. There is a short lifespan. I don’t think people care if they’re being appreciated as long as they’re getting paid.

K: Is that sort of the natural selfish nature of the sport?

G: There was nothing to be selfish about when we ran. We ran just cause that’s what we liked to do and we were competitive. At some races they may not have stuck around and waited for you to finish if you were above 4 hours or something, but this sport is healthy. I wish everyone would start running — when I see people who it takes 6 hours for them to finish, that’s fine. My wife always says, “Exercise cures everything!”

K: How much are you running these days?

G: Well I am 81 years old and I still run three or four times a week. We have a group of guys that we call the Central Park Medicare group. We go and do repeats on Thursday mornings and we give each other a hard time, but encourage everyone, while also trying to kill each other. Then I go to the track on Tuesdays in Northport and I am actually on my way to Sunken Meadow right now

I don’t run every day because I really need to rest. I do always walk and that’s good for the knees, hips and back. Last year I took three months off without running a step, although I was skiing and walking at altitude. But in April when I tried running again I could hardly move.

K: How are you going to watch the marathon this year?

G: We always get invited to the finish line breakfast at the Tavern On The Green. After watching the race on the big screens we go out to the stands and cheer everyone on when they finish. On Friday night there is an event this year, but I am keying in on some of the 15 guys who ran the first one with me who will be there. I am going to invite them all to walk the original course with me on Saturday morning… just one loop though!

K: When did winning the first marathon start to feel like it was a big deal to people? Because I know you said when it first happened no one really cared much.

G: The longer we are away from it the bigger the deal it is. Which is natural and after 50 years it’s now a milestone. It was a no big deal of a race then – it was actually a stupid race – who puts a race on September 13th during a hot summer day in the hills of the park?

K: How do you follow the sport these days?

G: I read the Walt Murphy recap (Subscribe: [email protected]), or at least my wife does. We still have training out of the [Super Runners Shop] stores on Thursdays and I go out to races to watch so a lot of it is just talking with people.

K: What was the significance of the Millrose shirt that you wore when you won?

G: It was a team that was sponsored by the Wanamaker Stores, which of course you’re familiar with [the men’s elite mile at the Millrose Games is still named for Wanamaker]. But I ran for the team, which would go up against the Pioneers, NYAC, or the St. Anthony’s Boys Club. They’d buy me two pairs of shoes every year, but there was no money. They didn’t even pay the $1 entry fee to get me into the marathon.

K: When was the last time you ran the New York City Marathon?

G: I did the 40th and I did not have fun! Slowest time I ever ran and it hurt – it also hurt my lifetime batting average for a marathon. I’d maybe do one more, but it’d have to be for a charity that can generate a lot of dollars for a good cause.

Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥

• World Athletics did a wonderful profile on shot putter Raven Saunders, who has continued to open up and share more about her struggle with mental health and the journey to winning the Olympic silver medal. (Article)

• At the Javolina Jundred 100 miler, Arlen Glick won the men’s race in a time of 13:14:51 and Camille Heron took the women’s in 14:03:23. This race was a Western States Golden Ticket Race for the top 2 finishers — their prize is another 100 miles.

• Jordan Hasay guided blind athlete, Lisa Thompson, to a 1:38 half marathon in Houston this weekend.

• Leah Falland shared an important and honest message to encourage others to reach out for help with anxiety. (Post)

• Sanya Richards-Ross is joining the cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta for season 14. (Article)

• Unfortunately Des Linden and Matt Llano are both late scratches to the NYC Marathon.

• World Athletics has announced competition rule changes to be more lenient with lane violations. This is much needed! (Post)

• Larry Trachtenberg is the only athlete competing in the 50th NYC Marathon who also ran the first. (NYT Article)

• The Atlanta Track Club has signed a new partnership with Adidas. The organization was previously sponsored by Mizuno. (Tweet)

• In a RW article this week, Katie Rainsberger corroborated the experiences of other University of Oregon athletes who accused the program of focusing on body composition. (Article)

Some personal news

On November 2nd at 12:21pm, Laoise Mary Merber entered the world and immediately melted hearts. Patricia was incredible and both ladies are now healthy and recovering well. It’s pronounced LEE•SHA — which means ‘light’ in Irish — and she is ours.