Just a quick post today as I wanted to put out the second installment of the "Top 10 signs you know guys have taken over the house" (you can check out the first if you missed it!) and this one is "When the Front Room Stairs Become Shelves." Obviously once all the available floorspace as been covered there is no other place to house items but the stairs?!?! hehe. At any rate, I did want to let anyone who is interested in seeing the continuation of this series and other cartoon/art related material know that I will actually be moving it over to my Writing and Art Blog as I try to move back into the swing of things since my accident and use this Fitness Stop blog for the fun workout, sports, and health related tips and news.

So for all of those track junkies out there last night was another big step forward for American Distance running in that Chris Solinksy smashed the American Record in the 10,000 meter event down at Stanford. The race was stacked, pacers enlisted, and there was plenty talk of the potential falling of Meb Keflezighi's nine year old record of 27:13.98; but much of the attention was put on Galen Rupp as being the one to do it. This was in fact Solinsky's debut 10k and while he was fit one never really knows what to expect in their first attempt at a distance, especially among such a high caliber field. So when he did take the lead with 800 meters to go I'm sure many a track fans were surprised, cheering him on, but maybe still expecting him to fade or ultimately be overtaken in the end. But the very opposite was the case in he blazed home to win in 26:59.6, which not only established the new AR but crossed the elusive 27 minute threshold making him the fastest 10k harrier ever not of African descent. Not too shabby. :)

The race was so fast that Galen did still eclipse the previous American Record mark in finishing in fourth with 27:10.74. Just ahead of him in third was Sam Chelanga of Liberty who set the new NCAA record with 27:08.39. Also, one of Solinsky's training partners, Simon Bairu, represented Canadians well and with his 27:23.69 for fifth set the bar in the Canadian Record.

In the rest of the meet Shannon Rowbury drew some attention herself in winning the women's 5,000 meters, in which she is still relatively new to the event at usually sticking to the 1,500, as she upset current American Record holder Shalane Flanagan with 150 meters to go and finishing time of 15:00.51. Shalane came in at 15:04.23 and Amy Begley placed third by setting a PR for herself in 15:05.69. So it was quite an exciting night for distance running, and it actually comes off of a thrilling weekend being that the Oregon Relays in Eugene were the night before and Andrew Wheating had an amazing kick to win the 1,500 in 3:37.8.

All of this is quite inspiring and hopefully pumps everyone else up to set and achieve their own fitness goals whether it be in running or even just getting in a certain number of workouts a week. Seeing others achieve their own goals is something we can all look to as motivation. So on that note I hope you all had a great weekend, busted your own sweat even if it wasn't in a record setting attempt, and are looking forward to the start of another week!

The 2009 USATF Coach of the Year is awarded to none other than the legendary Alberto Salazar. For those in the running community, that name itself brings to mind images of an athlete with inhuman grit, fortitude, and a fierce competitor. During his own illustrious running career Salazar not only pushed the envelope of what was considered possible and testing his body's own ability, but did so willing to state his goals aloud for all to hear. Salazar was able to speak his intentions, and more often than not deliver upon those with results meriting him plenty of titles and of course his World Record Marathon time.

Yet today Alberto Salazar is being awarded this great honor not as an athlete but as a coach. While being the head of the noted Oregon Project out of Portland, Oregon he oversees a multitude of not only the Nation's leading harriers, but the World's. They include: Kara Goucher, Dathan Ritzenhein, Galen Rupp, Ari Lambie, Adam Goucher, and Alan Webb. Among them there are countless records, titles, and medals, yet they all share the same inspired work ethic and dedication traited of their coach.

In accepting this 2009 Coach of the Year, Alberto Salazar remains humble, a characteristic of the man who is always willing to go to any length for this athletes, in stating "I am very honored and grateful for this great honor that I've been presented. However, I do so humbly as I know there are many other coaches out there that have done an equal or better job in helping their athletes achieve their goals. I am especially proud of the resurgence in American distance running that is occurring and thank all those athletes and coaches that have worked so hard for the last ten years to make this possible." While I may dispute the fact that there is a finer coach, I offer my most sincere congratulations to Alberto Salazar and look forward to what 2010 brings from him and his athletes!

In an exciting display of American distance running finally returning back to the competitive level of the dominant African nations, Meb Keflezighi was the first American man to cross the finish line for the 2009 New York City Marathon. This feat has not happened since Alberto Salazar won the fabled race in 1982, some 27 long years ago. In his own race, Salazar won with a combination of grit, fortitude, and guts, and it was in following the same example that Keflezighi surged to the finish, upstaging the pre-race favorites, both representing Kenya.

This latest win for the American comes after a string of recent exciting developments for American distance running. Once thought to be so far lagging behind the Kenyans and Ethiopians filling podiums at every World competition, many
resigned to the fact that these African runners were just simply physically superior to their opposition and that their natural gifts and apparent physical make-up deemed them untouchable. For the last decades it appeared that Americans and any other distance runners not from these regions were not in a race for a win, but simply hoping to break into the top ten or even twenty spots. This changed with a string of American upsets and cornerstones passed. Dathan Ritzenhein's third place finish in the Weltklasse Meet in Zurich, Switzerland with a time of 12:56.27 for the 5000 meter event not only bested the long standing American record once held by Bob Kennedy, but even more impressive was that he placed third in the event, motoring past the rest of the African field.

This feat eventually lead to him to a third place finish in the World Half Marathon Championships with a time of 60:00 and established him as the first American distance runner to medal in the World Championships. Beside Dathan, it appears that Americans across the Nation have stepped up their game as well, with others emerging to claim previously unheard of times and finishes. We can't forget the women who have blazed the way either, notably Kara Goucher tackling the Marathon event with her eyes set on not just American records but titles as well against her African counterparts. Steepler, Jenny Barringer has proved to be a force to reckon with on the International scene, as well as the remaining members of the select group comprising the Oregon Project team based out of Portland, Oregon among which both Goucher and Ritzenhein train with. Who heads and coaches this group? Well, it is none other than the noted Salazar himself, which seems to bring us full circle.

With this amazing upset from Keflezighi, American distance running seems to have proven that these latest events are not to be regarded as mere flukes, but are only the beginnings of much more to come.