The rapport between roommates Simon Bairu and Evan Jager was evident, when they took part in a “Rookies Vs the World” chat on Friday evening, live from New York City.  We share some of the highlights below:

Josh G: What about living with Simon annoys you most?
Evan Jager: Our place gets pretty messy sometimes ’cause Simon never takes out the garbage. I’m not even sure he knows where to take it.
KIMbia Athletics: Simon: a rebuttal?
Evan Jager: Just kidding. That’s me. Honestly he thinks he can put me in timeout when I don’t do stuff he wants me to because he’s older… Then I remind him I can beat him up. Haha.
Simon Bairu: No comment.

Later, Evan addressed the now-famous debate between Chris Solinsky and Simon Bairu over Simon’s prowess — or lack thereof — at things the Canadian claims to be undefeated in.

Evan Jager: Speaking of undefeated… a little known fact about Simon and I is that I am undefeated against him in XC.
Simon Bairu: Sadly true.

For those stat/history buffs, the lone head-to-head match-up came in the alumni race held as part of the 2009 Wisconsin adidas Invitational.  It should be noted that while Evan won, both men were credited with the same finish time.

Yesterday, Simon Bairu, Tim Nelson and Shalane Flanagan spent the afternoon answering questions in our first “Rookies Vs the World” Live Chat, hosted by our interactive partner Runnerspace.com. In addition to showing an exclusive deleted scene of Simon Bairu discussing his 12th place finish at the World Cross Country Championships**, we enjoyed a lively discussion covering quite a range of questions: the three athletes fielded queries about marathon prep, how they will define “success” in New York, and, bedazzled waterbottles… among other things.

One highlight was Tim Nelson offering a comment on Simon’s video reflection: Read the full article

KIMbia Athletics and Runnerspace.com are expanding the universe of “Rookies Vs the World,” as Runnerspace becomes our official Interactive Partner in the series. NYRR.org and INGNYCMarathon.org/stories/index.shtm will still be the first place to go for new episodes each Tuesday and Friday, but Runnerspace.com will be home to Live Chats, Bonus Features and contests that will offer viewers the chance to connect with the athletes and the stories even more richly and throughout the week.

The first Live Chat kicks things off TODAY at 4pm ET / 1pm PT. So head over to Runnerspace.com/Rookies-vs-the-World and join in.  We’ll be showing some exclusive video and you’ll have the chance to ask Shalane, Simon and Tim that burning question you’ve been dying to have answered.

KIMbia’s own Brent Vaughn and James Carney raced the Bolder Boulder this past Monday and led Team Colorado to a surprise 2nd place finish behind Team Ethiopia. Read the details below, and get ready to chat with them live!

Who: KIMbia’s own Brent Vaughn and James Carney
What: Live Chat with the fans
When: 2:30pm Eastern/11:30am Pacific

Read the full article

Who: 10,000m American & Canadian Record Holders Chris Solinsky and Simon Bairu
What: Live Chat with the fans
When: 1:30pm Eastern/10:30am Pacific

This is how it works: Type any question, comment, anecdote, or musing that you want Chris and/or Simon to hear in the box below, and they will respond live. It’s that simple. This is a forum for fans to interact with some of the world’s best runners in a way that is personal and fun and accessible to the people who really care about the athletes.

Read the full article