For most of the early season I\u2019ve talked about the speed events and the collegians, because they\u2019ve been the one\u2019s making most of the noise. I\u2019ve been waiting for the distance runners to join the fray \u2013 if for no other reason than I feel like we really have a chance to compete against the rest of the world. <\/p>\n
That happened yesterday at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto. A full invitational with sprints hurdlers and field events, it\u2019s the distances that always seem to feature at this meet. In large part I\u2019m sure because the weather is almost always nearly perfect for distance running. <\/p>\n
The two big races were both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s 10,000 meters. On the men\u2019s side Kenyan Bitan Karoki ran a world leading 27:13.67 \u2013 an excellent time at this point in the season. Americans followed in 2nd, 5th and 6th as Robert Curtis (27;24.67), Tim Nelson (27;28.19) and Matt Tegenkamp (27:28.22) all notched PR\u2019s \u2013 Tegenkamp in his debut at the distance. Confirmation that U.S. distance fortunes are definitely on the upswing. <\/p>\n
Further confirmation came in the women\u2019s race as Kenyan Sally Kipyego also ran a world leader at 30:38.35, with American Shalane Flanagan right behind at 30:39.57. With Molly Huddle in 5th (31:28.66) and Jen Rhines in 8th (31:43.00) it\u2019s clear to me that our distance crew is going to be ready to give it a good go come August. We\u2019re becoming deep as well as competitive and that\u2019s always a good thing. <\/p>\n
There was also a good sign for our middle distances as Christin Wurth Thomas, better known as a 1500 meter runner, ran the #2 time in the world in the 800 as she won in 2:00.72. Coming on the heels of Phoebe Wright\u2019s strong anchor leg in the sprint medley at Penn (1:59.25) and some earlier races by Jenny Simpson, our middle distance corps is also coming along quite nicely for this time of the year.<\/p>\n
Daegu opens up this year\u2019s Diamond League season on Thursday, and certainly things will begin to accelerate. I\u2019ll be taking a look at Daegu\u2019s lineup shortly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For most of the early season I\u2019ve talked about the speed events and the collegians, because they\u2019ve been the one\u2019s making most of the noise. I\u2019ve been waiting for the distance runners to join the fray \u2013 if for no other reason than I feel like we really have a chance to compete against the rest of the world. That happened yesterday at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto. A full invitational with sprints hurdlers and field events, it\u2019s the distances that always seem to feature at this meet. In large part I\u2019m sure because the weather is almost always nearly perfect for distance running. The two big races were both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s 10,000 meters. On the men\u2019s side Kenyan Bitan Karoki ran a world leading 27:13.67 \u2013 an excellent time at this point in the season. Americans followed in 2nd, 5th and 6th as Robert Curtis (27;24.67), Tim Nelson (27;28.19) and Matt Tegenkamp (27:28.22) all notched PR\u2019s \u2013 Tegenkamp in his debut at the distance. Confirmation that U.S. distance fortunes are definitely on the upswing. Further confirmation came in the women\u2019s race as Kenyan Sally Kipyego also ran a world leader at 30:38.35, with American Shalane Flanagan right behind at 30:39.57. With Molly Huddle in 5th (31:28.66) and Jen Rhines in 8th (31:43.00) it\u2019s clear to me that our distance crew is going to be ready to give it a good go come August. We\u2019re becoming deep as well as competitive and that\u2019s always a good thing. There was also a good sign for our middle distances as Christin Wurth Thomas, better known as a 1500 meter runner, ran the #2 time in the world in the 800 as she won in 2:00.72. Coming on the heels of Phoebe Wright\u2019s strong anchor leg in the sprint medley at Penn (1:59.25) and some earlier races by Jenny Simpson, our middle distance corps is also coming along quite nicely for this time of the year. Daegu opens up this year\u2019s Diamond League season on Thursday, and certainly things will begin to accelerate. I\u2019ll be taking a look at Daegu\u2019s lineup shortly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-7I","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":140,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=140","url_meta":{"origin":478,"position":0},"title":"Early Weekend News","author":"CHill","date":"April 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Relay running takes center stage at Drake and Penn, but distance runners made some noise on Friday at a couple of meets here on the West Coast. In Oregon, Colorado steeplechaser Jenny Barringer opened up her season in the 1500 meters and won in a world leading time of 4:08.38.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":138,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=138","url_meta":{"origin":478,"position":1},"title":"Weekend Wrap Up","author":"CHill","date":"April 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This weekend saw some pretty good performances, but the best of the bunch had to be at Mt SAC as Carmelita Jeter took the world lead and set a new PR of 10.96 (+0.9) in the women's 100 meters. Jeter came out of nowhere in '07 to win the bronze\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":302,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=302","url_meta":{"origin":478,"position":2},"title":"Hot Weekend of Match Ups in Store","author":"CHill","date":"April 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A lot of action on tap this weekend as the season begins to hit stride with several interesting match ups and possibly the top in season high school invitational of the year scheduled all over the country.In Eugene we get two of the country\u2019s top collegiate programs as Oregon and\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=302#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Track and Field: NCAA Championships","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.picapp.com\/ftp\/Images\/5\/2\/e\/c\/Track_and_Field_8cad.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1014,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1014","url_meta":{"origin":478,"position":3},"title":"Big Weekend of Invitational\/Relay Meets Online","author":"CHill","date":"April 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that we're outdoors expect this year to go whizzing by. June will be Championships month - NCAA, High Schools and assorted National Olympic Trials. July will be European Circuit month replete with the heart of the Diamond League. Then finally August will be Olympics month, dominated of course by\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1014#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sprint Start","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Sprint-Start_thumb.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Sprint-Start_thumb.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Sprint-Start_thumb.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":275,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=275","url_meta":{"origin":478,"position":4},"title":"Torrin Lawrence Again","author":"CHill","date":"February 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Another busy indoor weekend - with a bit of outdoor action thrown in. The big mark was once again laid down by Torrin Lawrence. Previously Lawrence set a collegiate record in the 300, this time around he ran a sensational 45.03 in the 400. Not quite a record, but the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Track and Field: Tyson Invitational","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.picapp.com\/ftp\/Images\/1\/1\/0\/d\/PicImg_Track_and_Field_de11.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":510,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=510","url_meta":{"origin":478,"position":5},"title":"Final Thoughts Before the Gun Goes Off","author":"CHill","date":"June 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Roughly 48 hours until it all begins \u2013 the selection process for our World Championships team. I\u2019ve tried to cover as many events as possible over the last week, but there are still more stories to tell. Here are a few other events that I plan to keep an eye\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh6.ggpht.com\/-WjqH3ZRLOeI\/TgC_Y_pOOsI\/AAAAAAAAAPA\/9Xz87MvI-5c\/image_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}