After a months-long hiatus, Simon Bairu made his return to competition at the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago. His winning time of 23:38 was one second faster than last year’s champion John Kemboi, though he enjoyed a wider margin of victory — seventeen seconds — than Kemboi’s five second gap. Said Bairu of his first race since last fall’s ING New York City Marathon, “I couldn’t think of a better way to kick off my competitive running season than to have won the 2011 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K.” Taking second behind the Regina native was high school sensation Lukas Verzbicas in 23:55.

Meanwhile, in Alexandria, VA, Fasil Bizuneh took first place at the Parkway Classic 10 Miler by posting a winning time of 49:09, fifteen seconds ahead of 2nd place. Bizuneh’s time was also eighteen seconds faster than last year’s winner.

In her first race back from injury, Rebecca Donaghue took a very credible 7th in Jacksonsville at the US 15k Championships, contested as part of the 2011 Gate River Run.  Her KIMbia teammate Fasil Bizuneh placed 8th.

Rebecca discussed her race in great detail over at her blog, RunningRebecca.com, and, in addition to seeing dolphins and trying fried alligator, she was hungry to race:

I felt pretty much how I thought I’d feel, rusty from not racing in such a long time, and very excited to be out there again. Just in the past week or two things really started to come around with my injury. I logged decent weekly mileage within the past month but did only a handful of workouts without pain in my heel. Things have gotten better so gradually over the months but it was a pretty consistent progression that indicated that running at Gate would be a good fit. Read the full article

The Millrose Games may have the pedigree, but the top competition of the weekend — from a distance running standpoint — was in Houston on Saturday, where Fasil Bizuneh worked his way through a solid field to take fourth at the USATF Half Marathon Championships.  Even with the American Record Holder at the distance, Ryan Hall, in the race, it was KIMbia’s Brent Vaughn leading the early proceedings.  For his part, Bizuneh got fourth the hard way — grinding it out late:

It was a tough one out there. […] I got gapped at 10k and worked pretty hard to get back and just didn’t have much left to respond with [at the end].

Bizuneh ran 1:02:47, about fifteen seconds out of third place.

chasingKIMbIA star Fasil Bizuneh has been plugging away as a pro for a several years, chipping away at his 10000m PB and creeping up in the results of National Championship after National Championship — the dedication and perseverance of his story make for a true macrocosm of what running is all about. And on August 28th of 2010, all that “chopping wood” paid off in the big way, when Bizuneh won his first US title in Flint, MI at the Crim 10-Miler. Fasil got in-depth with us after that race, as he described what went into his big moment from the past year…

With a breakout national title highlighting your 2010, can you describe your final month of preparations leading up to Crim?
There was a big change in my training circumstances six weeks before Crim. I made a coaching change to Greg McMillan and working with Team USA Arizona here in Flagstaff. I definitely attribute the success I had at Crim to this change. It’s been a night and day difference from what I had grown accustomed to over the previous three-and-a-half years (working out alone & without an on-site coach). Read the full article

Chris Solinsky showed best among KIMbia athletes ranked by Track and Field News at the end of 2010, ending the year ranked 8th overall among all American men, and 3rd in the world for 10000m. While Solinsky’s American Record 26:59 at Stanford was the world’s second-fastest time of the year for 10000m, Wilson Kiprop got the top slot in the world rankings by virtue of his wins at the Kenyan National Championships and African Champs. Additionally, Kiprop won the World Championship in the Half Marathon this Fall: clearly a phenomenal athlete having a phenomenal season, and we are certainly very, very proud of Chris and this, his first Top-10 appearance in the T&FN World Rankings. Solinsky actually ranked 1st in the world in the event — and 5th in the 5000m — according to the IAAF’s point-system, which rates marks and head-to-head competition, with an eye toward repeated good performances. And, moreover, the Stevens Point-native ended 2010 ranked #76 in the world across all disciplines, according to the IAAF system. Not too shabby in a sport where over 6,000 male competitors earned points in professional competition. Read the full article