KIMbia Athletics

Lineth cruised to a convincing win at Saturday’s Athletics Kenya cross country meet in Nyahururu. Running at more than 7,000 feet of altitude, Lineth showed she’s well on the road to recovery from injury with a 25:48 win on the 8K course. Her closest competitor, Joice Wanjiku, was 44 seconds back.

Lineth’s next big races are the Armed Forces championships and the national meet. Her performances in those races will help determine whether she runs in March’s world championships in Amman, Jordan.

More details and results are here.

Most memorable running experience of 2008: The Olympics; pretty obvious why! Believe it or not; I still have not seen the first two hours of the opening ceremonies!

First big goal for 2009: Get the 5,000m “A” standard for this year’s World Championships in Berlin. Yes, I screwed up last year and did not get the time out of the way. Last year was considered by most to be a successful year because of making the Olympic team, but when I look back I see many issues from 2008 that will be addressed in 2009.

Main goal for 2009: Represent Team USA in the 5,000 at the World Champs in Berlin. Prep for this started right after the Olympics with a different focus in training, and it has been going great. It is going to be an exciting year, and I’ll be ready to kick it off sometime in February with a few indoor races.

Most memorable running experience of 2008: Olympic Trials final in the 5K. I would say that this is memorable because I made so many mistakes in the race and was still within seconds of qualifying for the team. I learned a lot from that race and the rest of the summer season. That race alone will serve as plenty of motivation for me for many years to come, especially the next four years. I’m going to remember all the emotions during and following the race and use them as motivation to never feel that low again.

First big goal for 2009: Not only make the 5K team for the World Championships in Berlin, but make the final and be a factor in the final for one of the three podium spots. I would love to be a part of this summer’s 5K team because we have 4 entrants going and I would love to be part of that history, and if we could all make the final and do well in the final, that would be incredible.

Main goal for 2009: My main goal is to overall improve. I want to become a complete runner. I made so many mistakes last year throughout the entire year, and I want to make sure I learn from those and do not repeat them. Additionally, I would like to have a successful debut in the steeplechase this year and possibly open up a potential new event for myself. Finally, enjoy the sport, to not forget why I started this sport and why I love it so much. Sometimes when things go bad it is easy to lose that, and I don’t want that to be the case. I know I was supposed to have only one main goal, but these three are what have been on my mind as an overall theme for me for this year.

Hope everyone has a great holiday season.
Chris

My most memorable experience of 2008 is also the one I most want to forget about. The U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials just did not go my way. I saw something I had worked so hard for just slip away. Any other day, maybe the result would have been different, but for the Olympic Trials timing is everything. This leads me to my major goal for 2009. I have some unfinished business in the marathon. I hope to return to Boston and run the Boston Marathon. I still believe I have a better one in me.

Merry Christmas,
Elva

I can’t believe we are almost in the last week of 2008. Let me just begin by thanking three amazing people who volunteered to coach me in three different times in 2008. The first person is Matt Holappa, who helped me recover from a potentially career-ending Achilles injury and helped restart my training. Then I had the opportunity to go Oregon to train with Alberto Salazar, which I was really grateful for. In April I began training with my current coach, Brad Hudson, who coached me before the Kenyan Olympic Trials and my marathon debut.

This has been a year for changes for me. My most memorable experience for 2008 was one day, when I was training for my first marathon, I ran 26 miles in 2:32. Running by myself on the dirt road around my house in Michigan, this day really stood out for me as a turning point in my career. Up until this point I didn’t really know if I had marathon potential, but on this particular run something clicked and I thought, “I can really do this.”

My first big goal for 2009 is to run a fast 10,000m race on the track, which will possibly be at Stanford. I will probably run a 5,000m race before attempting it. Then I will be choosing a marathon to focus on, which is the ultimate goal for 2009.