January 2008 Track and Field Articles

Catching up with Steve Osaduik (2.0) Here you can find out what Steve is up to and his training for a marathon this spring, as he attempts to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. And what's with all those Chihuahuas? I meet up with Steve, on my lunch, for a 60 minute run on the oceanfront. We agree on meeting in Beacon Hill Park, which provides an open view of the snow-capped peaks of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. 21km of the Juan de Fuca Straight separates Canada from the US in a chasm of green-but mostly blue,… more »

Wow things are really starting to heat up! In both the pro and college scenes records are falling and times are dropping. Athletes like Meseret Defar, Kim Smith and Craig Mottram have set the bar high for this up coming weekend of track and field. This weekend will be highlighted by the 101st Millrose Games(A New Century Begins) the second stop of the VISA Championship Series.

After breaking the USA all-comers record in a time of 7:34.50 Craig Mottram is heading to New York City hoping to win his second title this season. However this time he… more »

Pittsburg State’s Venessa Lee has always had a love-hate relationship with running. Despite being the indoor and outdoor DII National Champion in the 800m, and qualifying for U.S. Outdoor Nationals, Venessa has not always loved running. About her first experience with the sport in junior high, she recalls, “I absolutely hated it. I was terrible. I competed in a few meets and decided I had had enough. I begged my parents to let me quit. I wrote, ‘I hate track’ over and over again and tacked it to their bedroom door. I finally convinced them [to let me quit] after… more »

The 2008 Reebok Boston Indoor Games features some of the most amazing indoor performances of the year. Meseret Defar of Ethiopia and the 2007 IAAF female World Athlete of the Year started her indoor season off with a spectacular 2 mile victory at the 2008 Reebok Boston Indoor Games. Defar finished in 9 minutes 10.50 seconds, smashing Regina Jacobs previous world record of 9 minutes 23.38 seconds set in 2002. Defar who turned 24 in November has set five world records and more to come. With Beijing only 7 months away, Defar hopes to defend her 2004 Gold medal in… more »

Nebraska native Colby Wissel is currently injured, but has PRs of 7:53 (a Jayhawk indoor school record) for the 3k and 13:54 (2nd all-time at KU) for the 5k. He is looking to overcome his Achilles injury and return for outdoor track.

Can you give me a brief history of you and your running?
My first track races were in elementary school. My Dad, Stan, was the physical education teacher and once a year he put on a track and field meet for all of the kids. I had a lot of fun with those… more »

I first met Diane Cummins at the track, what are the odds? My son (then 9) and I were enjoying the Victoria International Track Classic at the University of Victoria, Centennial stadium, May 25th 2001. It was a cool, breezy evening and Diane had just handily run away from her competition in an 800m race, easing to a 2:04. One of the best parts of Vic International is heading onto the track and meeting world class athletes immediatley after the competition ends. When we got down onto the track, we caught up with Diane first. We found her to be,… more »

I know that this is a sad way to start off but I know that everyone has heard about the violence in Kenya. I personally have some friends from Kenya and it is sad to see how much it grieves them. This is a horrible situation so please keep the people over here and there in your thoughts and prayers.

On a lighter side there are reports that Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will be running the Boston Marathon. This is not just some publicity stunt this will actually be his fifth marathon! "I'm signed up for… more »

This weekend had some amazing races including, sr Chanelle Price (Easton, Pa) shattering Devon Williams US Record in the 500 meters by 1.14 seconds at the 13th New Balance Games. Price ran a time of 1 minute 10.30 seconds breaking Williams’s record of 1 minute 11.44 second.

Price said after her race “I wanted to go out and bring them through in about 54 and then just keep on going and try to finish in about 14 or 15 seconds (for the last 100 meters) and run about 1:08 or 1:09…Starting down was a little rough… more »

Indiana University Pennsylvania’s Senior Sean Strauman might be the world’s fastest tuba player. Not that he necessarily runs and plays the tuba. Sean was the runner-up in the 800m at the Division II National Indoor Meet. Strauman ran a 1:50 about a second behind the winner Adams State’s Nick Lara who ran a 1:49. He is a four-time all American and has already qualified for this year’s National Indoor Meet to be held at Minnesota State University-Mankato.

Sean began running like many other runners by first being involved in soccer. He had success in his senior… more »

This past Friday at the Dubai Marathon, Haile Gebrselassie barely missed his own world record in the marathon by less than 30 seconds. It was an exciting race for track and field fans, but evidently not significant enough to be televised in the United States. Despite Gebrselassie being arguably the greatest runner in the world, he is not the biggest name in the sport right now – at least not big enough for Oprah. What’s wrong with this picture?

Former sprinter Marion Jones will begin a six month prison sentence this March for lying to federal agents… more »

Kansas’ Scott Sellers is one of the United State’s most promising high jumpers. He blasted onto the national scene in high school, collecting a personal best and national record of 7 feet 5 ¼ inches in the high jump. Since entering college he has jumped 7 feet 7 ¼ inches and won the 2007 NCAA Championships.

Can you give me your goals for indoor track this season?
Well, I’d like to improve on what I accomplished last year. I finished third at the National Championships and PRed by a centimeter. I’d like to go back… more »

We have always known top level runners to conduct workouts in lightweight trainers or racing flats. Now, finally there appears to be a growing trend towards minimalism in running footwear and the marketing of it. If so, I'm already sold on the concept! Chaos theory and the Butterfly effect aside, runners attempt to ride that sometimes elusive, 'elevated sense of well being', by controlling it. Runners supplement it by eating well, sleeping optimum quantities, training smart and avoiding stressful situations, but is that enough? When it comes to the lower extremities, especially the feet, there exists a certain lack of… more »

Hey Flotrackers! Here we go into the 2008 collegiate indoor season. It will be packed with historic performances and bitter disappointments. Already Virginia Tech’s Women’s 4x200-meter relay team has set a new collegiate record with a time of 1:36.43 and we are only a few weeks into the season! Speaking of getting out fast how about last year 60-meter national champion Travis Padgett from Clemson getting an automatic qualifying mark in the 60-meter dash in his first meet of the season with a 6.62? Well we have all heard about the American resurgence in distance running already one of these… more »

As the leader of the middle of the pack my contributions to this website will likely be unorthodox. I apologize in advance for my lack of flowing metaphors and sincerity. However, I won’t apologize for the sexy prose. While I wrote in earnest about the Ryan’s I will rarely be as serious again. Welcome to the middle of the pack, it’s a jungle of politics, music, legalese, and of course some splashes of running….gossip. Just the way I like it.
2008…it’s YOUR year.

Well it’s 2008 and it seems most of the media outlets… more »

2007 was very good to Seattle Pacific’s Jessica Pixler. It began with the 2007 indoor track season where Jessica won the National title in the mile. In the 2007 outdoor track and field season, Jessica won the 1500m and came in second in the 800m. This past summer she came in second in the USA Junior games in the 1500m and this earned her a berth to the Pan American games in Brazil where she won a gold medal in the event. Then in this past Cross Country season, Jessica took ten seconds off her time from Division II National… more »

The USA Half-Marathon Championships were held at the 2008 Aramco Houston Half-Marathon this past Sunday morning, January 13. Kate O’Neill led the women’s race with a time of 1:11:57, which earned her the national title.

“I’m really excited to have won my first national championship,” O’Neill said at the post-race press conference. She was presented with a cowboy hat and belt buckle by Aramco president and CEO, Mohammed Al Qahtani, and a medal by USATF president, Bill Roe.

O’Neill said that the beginning of the race was slower than the previous year. She… more »

Arkansas Razorback Scott Macpherson is an All-American and looking to keep learning under legendary Coach John McDonnell and make some noise this indoor season in the 5k and 3k distances.

How’s your training going right now?
Pretty good. It’s the beginning of the year right now so we’re trying to get a lot done but not take it too hard, because it’s a long season, which we kind of figured that out last year. We’re just having fun though. We’ve got a few solid weeks of good running.

Do you think you… more »

Vancouver Island, a paradigm of rolling waves of coniferous, temperate rain forest, envelopes hundreds of miles of trails, sheltering runners beneath a canopy of thick moss and evergreen, perfect for running year round. Catching up with Vancouver Island's own Steve Osaduik, locally known as 'Oz' and more importantly as Canada's second fastest marathon runner, regarding this Sunday's (January 13th) race, the Pioneer 8km in rural Victoria BC. The Pioneer 8k is the first race in the Vancouver Island Race Series, directed by the local Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club www.pih.bc.ca. Oz has run as fast as 23:39 on the course,… more »

With the spring semester looming, I have had time to look back this past week at my coverage this past season. With any experience you learn some lessons. With my writing, I know I need to watch my grammar and my style could use improvement. I have actually gone to my Professors and have gotten help for my writing. I also learned that results should always be checked at least twice and always have people who can explain rules to you. Another important lesson, I have learned is always have a backup plan for every column. One never knows if… more »

The McMillan Elite running team provides coaching, resources and an ideal training environment in Flagstaff, Arizona, for post-collegiate athletes. The team is coached by Greg McMillan and currently has seven members.

Brianna Torres, 27, has been the sole female on the team. Torres heard about McMillan Elite from her husband, Carlos Paradelo, who read about the team on a LetsRun.com message board thread. Since the team is relatively new, she said they are always looking for new members, especially women.

"If women are interested, they should apply," she said. "We're looking for people… more »

I have problems with resolutions. It is not like that I cannot stick to them. I am very good at following thru with resolutions. As a runner, I tend to set goals. As soon as I run a PR, I try to find ways to set a new one. It is that there tends to be some problems with resolutions.

First of all, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary a resolution is something that is resolved or the act or process of resolving. So when one makes a resolution, one is promising that some sort of problem is… more »