AM: (9 miles, 1:18:55 (40:31/38:24)). I was thinking about racing today ... whoops, it always makes me run a little faster. PM: (4 miles). Last night was one of the best track and field nights at our house ever. WOW! The men's 10K was a stunning performance. Dominated by Zersenay Tadese (Eritera) for most of the race ... he picked up the pace little-by-little, going from 2:46/K the first K down to 2:35 by the 5K mark (with a 4:10 mile between 4K and 6K!!!). Tadese tried to wear Bekele out ... but as soon as they hit the bell lap Bekele just took off and ran a 56 sec last lap -- wow. It was an amazing race. Big HUGE shout out to Ritz ... his 6th place showing -where he moved up quite a bit with a 13:50/13:32 (though many think his first 5K was a little faster than that) was a PR and he is now #4 all-time (American) performers list. Did I mention it was 77F and 41% humidity when they ran this race? The women's steeple was great for Jenny Barringer ... I am sure she is a little disappointed with her first 1/2 of the race, but she ran so well after being gapped in the first 2 laps -- but holy cow the leaders went out with a *3:01* first K - she was clearly smart not to go out with them as she passed about 5 women in the last 800. She ended up with an American record (9:12) and finished really strong in 5th. The gold medalist in this race, Marta Dominguez (33 years old and a World Champs gold medalist in the 5K) just took off the last 800 and never looked back. She was amazing! My final "highlight" was watching 3 out of the 4 Americans make it to the 1500 final -- WOW. Leo Manzano is looking very very fit right now (as are Bernard and Lopez Lomong), he strode in 2nd place and his kick was just jaw-dropping! Most heartbreaking moment was Isinbayeva no-heighting in the World Championship ...the horrid announcers said, "that is kind of like Usain Bolt not winning the 100 meters" -- duh, not really, it is more like Usain Bolt not even making it out of the first round.
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