Matt Tegenkamp closed out his 2007 track campaign with a 13:07, 11th place showing at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels. Matt held onto the fast early pace and put himself in good position with 1000m to go; unfortunately he couldn’t hold onto it over the last two laps, and just missed his PR of 13:04.
It was a great season for Matt, which included an American Record at 2 Miles and a 4th place finish at the World Championships. He had this to say after his race today:
I’m happy with the way I ran tonight, but I think if I had run just off the pace early on (similar to Chebii) I would have been able to finish stronger and with a faster overall time. I was a little bit over my head at 3k, but I need to get used to coming through in 7:45ish. Considering that I have been running 50 miles per week for the last month, I’m very happy with the way I ran. This year was still about development and that involved quite a few races. Unfortunately, that takes away from maintaining strength. I was able to do plenty of speed/sharping work, but it’s hard to make it through such a long season that way. Next year will be a little different with less racing before the Olympics; I should be able to hold my strength phase longer, which will make racing in September much easier.
Here’s a video from the KIMbia vault that never got posted. It was created before Lausanne earlier this year:
Better late than never…Labor Day Weekend produced two KIMbia victories. At the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon in VA Beach, Edna Kiplagat continued her dominant 2007 road season with an 8-second win over Akane Wakita. It was Edna’s second win in as many years at VA Beach. Tom Nyariki cracked the top-five of the men’s race, finishing 3rd in 1:02:30, just ten seconds off of winner Haron Toroitich.
Further south, at the U.S. 10K Classic in Atlanta, Simon Ndirangu got back to his winning ways with a 4-second win over teammate Luke Kipkosgei - 29:56 to 30:00. Richard Kiplagat finished 4th in 30:17.
This coming weekend five athletes will travel to the Philadelphia Distance Run Half Marathon. Nyariki, John Yuda, Charles Munyeki, and Gilbert Koech will face a tough men’s field in the city of brotherly love. On the women’s side, Edna Kiplagat will be looking to take the second step towards the $25,000 Triple Crown bonus, awarded to an athlete who wins all three fall half marathons put on by Elite Racing (Rock ‘n Roll VA Beach, Philly Distance Run, and Rock ‘n Roll San Jose). Edna finished 2nd in Philly last year and will face a strong field on Sunday.
Rock ‘n Roll Results
U.S. 10K Classic Results
Philly Race Preview
40K at Magnolia. Ugali and Chicken. Table Mountain. CNN and Fox News. Trips to Wal*Mart. Yep, it’s that time of year again. Welcome to Season Three of chasingKIMBIA.
The Chicago and New York City Marathons are fast approaching, and the athletes have been getting fast. Season Three kicks off next Monday from Boulder. You’ll meet some new athletes this season, like Christopher Cheboiboch, who has a PR of 2:08 and has finished second in both New York and Boston. You’ll also see some old faces, like Baba (New York) and James Koskei (Chicago).
But the biggest change this year will be the addition of an American to the group. Fasil Bizuneh is an up-and-coming American marathoner. His half-marathon PR of 1:02:20 came in the US Championships where he finished second to Ryan Hall, and ahead of Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi. He’s been training with the guys in Boulder since the end of August in preparation for the US Olympic Marathon Trials, which take place in Central Park the day before the regular NYC Marathon. He had this to say right before his move to Boulder:
“The Marathon trials are 10 weeks away and I know that this is the right decision for me. Training with the KIMbia marathon group will give me the best possible chance to succeed on race day. With all of the American talent that will be in Central Park on November 3rd, no one will be backing his way into one of the three Olympic spots. It will take a great race to make that team. Based on my last two marathons Read the full article
Chris Solinsky is taking your questions! The big man from Madison, who lowered his 5,000m PR to 13:12, his 3,000m PR to 7:36, and his 1500m PR to 3:36 in his first professional season, is fielding any and all inquiries.
Want advice? Want insight on the European circuit? Want to know how much he can benchpress?
Write to soso (at) kimbia (dot) net.
Over the course of a 13-hour plane flight from Osaka to Detriot and the 1.5 hour ride from Detroit to Greensboro, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on everything I learned in the last few weeks. It would be pretty daunting to try to cover it all, so I’ll condense it down to the most important parts. My Top Five Lessons from Two Weeks in Osaka:
5) The Japanese bring the concept of order to a new level.
That applies to everything from conversations and introductions to riding an escalator. For instance, the language itself is divided between words to use in formal vs. informal relationships settings. Ohayou = Good morning, informal. Ohayou Gozimas = Good morning, formal.
Escalators provide the astounding sight of person after person neatly filing to the far right side of every stair - leaving free the path on the left for that late-rising American who needs to race up the escalator to make her next appointment on time.
4) Team USA and the Japanese Public Transportation System were similarly unbeatable
From Alyson Felix, Tyson Gay, and Jeremy Wariner winning golds in the sprints to Bernard Lagat’s double and the 1-2 finish of Reese Hoffa and Adam Nelson in the men’s shot put, it was a joy to watch every aspect of the week’s competition. Similarly, as far as I’m concerned, the Japanese public transportation system has no rival from any other Read the full article
0.03 seconds. I could let that tear me apart, but how can I complain after finishing 4th in the world? And better yet, in a tactical style race that not many people thought I could run. I will get back to my thoughts on the final, but first the prelim.
It was a perfect night to run and I felt great. I warmed up a little with Goucher and Alistair Cragg, which kept me pretty calm. I really like warming up with people because usually it takes my mind off the race and allows me to relax a bit. The warm-up was different than usual because we had to be in the call room 30 minutes before the start of our race, and there was nowhere to do strides until out on the track. The nice thing about the very efficient time schedule is that you never have to rush to get things done, so I was very relaxed heading to the start line. On our walk over to the start we passed by the long jump right as Dwight Phillips took his first jump. That really helped to get the adrenaline flowing (as if it wasn’t already). Once we got over to the start, we got to watch the last few laps of the first heat, and I was happy with what I saw. It was a good feeling to know that I only needed to be top ten.
I knew exactly what I needed to do going into my heat – run a patient, relaxed, “my” type of race. It didn’t take long for the race to settle into an honest pace. I felt very under control the first 4k. I covered all of the moves in the last part of the race and figured since I was up front, I would get out and run a little bit the last 800 Read the full article
Matt Tegenkamp ran an incredible race, but came up three hundredths of a second short of the bronze medal. In a slow tactical race, Matt sat near the back for the first 4,000 meters, but worked his way up before the pack strung out. With 250 meters to go, he started his kick for home. With 100 meters to go, it looked as if he would have to settle for 6th place, but he kept charging for home, passing Tariku Bekele and Mo Farah along the way. Unfortunately, he ran out of track, just missing Uganda’s Moses Kipsiro at the line. Bernard Lagat won the race, his second gold of the Championships.
