HBO Follows Up On The Nike Oregon Project, Alberto Salazar

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On Tuesday night, HBO Real Sports aired a special on the Nike Oregon Project and Alberto Salazar featuring former team members Mary Cain, Kara Goucher, Dorian Ulrey and USADA CEO Travis Tygart. Much of the segment put together the accounts shared by Cain and Goucher that were shared in late 2019 when Cain came forward with her allegations of mistreatment to the New York Times and then I followed up with some other former team members and coaches for Sports Illustrated.

There were some new revelations in the special, which is available to watch on HBO.

– In the New York Times and Sports Illustrated stories, Cain discussed the self-harm that she inflicted upon herself while struggling mentally and physically on the track. In the HBO Real Sports segment, she goes into a bit more detail and said that she would use the pins from her bib after a race to cut herself on her leg. She said that Darren Treasure, who was once touted on the Oregon Project website as a sports psychologist but was not, saw her do this. He denied it to HBO and declined to be interviewed.

– Dorian Ulrey, who trained with the Oregon Project and served as a pacer for some record-setting runs, claimed that Alberto Salazar ordered him to regularly consume a strange cocktail.

"There was a powder that we mixed into drinks in a white tub unmarked that came from Alberto's garage," Ulrey said.

"My holy shit moment was when I found out it was a drug that was linked to cancer – a higher rate of cancer," he added.

According to the HBO Special, Salazar said all drugs were dispensed under the supervision of doctors.

– Nike and Alberto Salazar told HBO that the coach never abused his athletes or forced them to take drugs. And that he never intentionally violated any rules. Salazar remains banned from the sport but is appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The hearing was scheduled for November 2020 but was postponed to March 2021 due to the pandemic. Nike is backing Salazar’s appeal.

– In the Sports Illustrated story, Cain and Goucher called on Nike to open up its internal investigation into Salazar and the Oregon Project to a third party. HBO followed up with Nike about that internal investigation. The sportswear giant said they took the findings to make things better for female athletes and noted the changes to maternity policies in contracts. However, Kara Goucher and her husband said they never spoke with Nike for the internal investigation.

“They’re going to say they didn’t find any indication of abuse. Well, why don’t you talk to the abused?” Kara Goucher told HBO.

More from this week’s biggest news stories in the sport…

An Update on Tommy Rivs’ Cancer Battle After Six Rounds of Chemo

In a four-part Instagram series of photos, Tommy Rivers Puzey provided an update on his health after six rounds of chemotherapy. Among some of the takeaways: Rivs is free of supplemental oxygen and is able to walk short distances without a walker. A recent positron emission tomography scan showed no evidence of cancer, which means that the “six months of treatment have effectively killed the cancer in his body” and he is in remission.

“It has been difficult, to say the least. But Rivs is….Rivs. He is epinonimous. There really is no one like him. I could write in metaphor and parable for centuries and never successfully express his grit. His heart. His resolve. Every doctor has told me “if it were anyone else, he’d be dead.” A trite and sobering statement, but I’ve witnessed its truthfulness firsthand.”

Read all four parts here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Boston Marathon Gets Its 2021 Date

The Boston Athletic Association announced that Oct. 11 will be the day for the 125th running of the Boston Marathon "if road races are allowed to take place as part of the Massachusetts reopening plan.” Last year’s race was the first cancellation in the 124-year history of the event. Road races fall into Phase 4 of Massachusetts' reopening plan. The state is currently in Phase 3, Step 1 until February 8.

The revised World Marathon Majors calendar now looks like this:

Sept. 26 – Berlin Marathon

Oct. 3 - London Marathon

Oct. 10 – Chicago Marathon

Oct. 11 – Boston Marathon

Oct. 17 – Tokyo Marathon

Nov. 7 - New York City Marathon

My friend Tim Rossi and I were chatting about how someone would go about attempting all six in the 42-day span. Obviously, the toughest turnaround would be the Chicago-Boston back-to-back. Logistically, you’d have to start the journey in Boston to pick up your bib on Friday. Then, you’d head to Chicago on Saturday to get your bib and rest up. On Sunday, you race Chicago and immediately head to the airport after the race to get to Boston. You run Boston on Monday and then just crash before traveling across the world to run Tokyo six days later.

I wouldn’t put this past Mike Wardian or David Kilgore to attempt with the assistance of major sponsors.

THANK YOU MOMENTOUS

Before we get to some fast performances, I wanted to take a quick moment to thank MOMENTOUS for sponsoring the CITIUS MAG Podcast and newsletter. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been able to try Momentous' ArcFire Strength Recovery Protein as one of the newest additions to my training regimen. I'm someone who initially felt like they could get lost in what's proper fueling or how much protein I should be dialing into my everyday routine. Momentous has made it easy for me. They outline all of their ingredients on their site and their comprehensive blog has expert advice as well as first-hand accounts from pro athletes like Emma Coburn and Ben True.

Try it for yourself. CITIUS MAG Podcast listeners will generously receive 20% off their first order of Momentous by using the promo code CITIUS at checkout on LiveMomentous.com. That’s 20% off your first order of plant protein, whey protein, sleep formula and everything in their store.

RESULTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

– Jim Walmsley just missed the 100K world record of 6:09:14 with his 6:09:25 (5:56/mile pace) to win Hoka One One’s Project Carbon X2 showcase event. It was absolutely gut-wrenching to watch Walmsley look down at his watch at about 99K and just willing himself toward the finish line. The final stretch looked so long and his wide stride was only chipping away a little bit at a time. In the end, he fell 11 seconds short but set a new American record in the process. He’s now the second-fastest person at the distance ever. It’s a brand new year and Walmsley continues to show us just how to push our own limits.

“I feel like I got everything out of myself this time around and that leaves me satisfied for now,” Walmsley wrote on Instagram this week.

– Molly Seidel won the Las Vegas Gold Elite Half Marathon in a personal best of 69:20. On the Run Your Mouth podcast, she said she didn’t even remember what her old PR from the 2020 Houston Half Marathon was and treated this race as a tempo effort run.

– It’s nice to see Geoffrey Kamworor healthy again as he won the Kenyan Police and Defense Cross Country Championships on Friday morning. This marked his first race since a scary accident last summer when he was hit by a motorcycle while on a run in Kenya. He will be racing the RAK Half Marathon next month against 2020 World Half Marathon champion Jacob Kiplimo.

– Lee University senior Christian Noble ran a new Division II record of 13:37.39 at the Magic City Elite Meet. However, LetsRun.com reports the mark is being contested by the NCAA and may not count due to the use of pacing lights. If you want an appreciation for Division II athletics, I recommend reading this CITIUS MAG classic by Andrew Wise on “The Strange Magic of Division II.”

– Texas A&M star Athing Mu didn’t have to set a personal best to break a long-standing NCAA record. She ran 1:25.80 last weekend for 600 meters to break the 1:26.56 mark set by Tennessee’s Delia Floyd in 1981. Mu’s personal best of 1:23.57 is still the American record from her win at the 2019 U.S. indoor track and field championships in New York City.

– Remember former high school sensation Matthew Boling? He’s a sophomore at Georgia right now and ran 45.51 last weekend at a meet in Columbus, South Carolina. His outdoor personal best is 46.15 from July 2018.

– On his first throw at the first American Track League indoor meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Ryan Crouser broke the shot put world indoor record with a 22.82-meter heave. The previous record was set by American Randy Barnes in 1989 when he threw 22.66 meters. Could this finally be the year in which Barnes’ world records are finally removed from the top of the history books? Barnes has the shot put outdoor world record of 23.12 meters from 1990 but just a few weeks after doing that he tested positive for anabolic steroids. Crouser is the reigning Olympic champion and he’s off to a hot start. However, you also have to be wondering what Joe Kovacs may be cooking up in Columbus, Ohio as the reigning world champion from 2019.

– Grant Holloway tied his American record of 7.35 in the 60 meter hurdles. He now heads to Europe for a few races.

– Once again, it was good to see Trayvon Bromell winning races. He took the men’s 60m in 6.48 seconds. It marked his first win in a 60-meter final since he took gold at the 2016 world indoor championships. Last year, I had him on the CITIUS MAG Podcast to detail some of the trials and tribulations he went through since making the Olympic 100 meter final. “In 2018, I was lost. I didn’t know what it would be for me. I just wanted to be done. The people around me said ‘You have to keep fighting.’”

– A few notes on ESPN’s broadcast of the American Track League. Yes, it’s always a win for the sport to end up on the World Wide Leader’s airwaves and I’ve watched their coverage of the NCAA championships in the past but this was just a very shoddy effort to broadcast the meet. In normal times, think about watching an event at a crowded, noisy bar. Can you follow the action by simply glancing over and not being able to hear what the announcers are saying? On this count, no. It failed. Graphics are essential in field event coverage but there was none. The announcers didn’t seem to know that Holloway tied his American record and it took some time for Lewis Johnson to be made aware of Crouser’s world record. We can do better.

Trials of Miles Texas Qualifier Fields

If you’ve been following us closely on Instagram over the past week, we’ve slowly started unveiling some of the names of athletes who have registered to race at next month’s meet. The women’s 800 will feature the first clash between Raevyn Rogers and Ajee Wilson since they took silver and bronze at the 2019 world championships in Doha. The men’s 5,000 meters includes studs like Ben True, Edward Cheserek, Ryan Hill, Drew Hunter, Joe Klecker, Sam Parsons, Morgan McDonald and more. Stay up to date on the fields by following Trials of Miles Racing on Instagram. If you’re a sponsor, brand or possible donor with an interest in getting involved with the meet, please feel free to contact me: [email protected]. We’re working on putting on this race for FREE on the CITIUS MAG Youtube channel so don’t forget to subscribe.

CITIUS MAG PODCAST NETWORK

Thanks to Runner’s World and Matthew Huff for recognizing the CITIUS MAG Podcast on its list of Best Running Podcasts. There’s tons of running podcasts out there so I’m always thankful to hear when someone chooses us. Cheers to more “running geekdom” to come in 2021!

“I’m more comfortable with betting on myself now than I have been in the past, and I think it comes from just accumulating achievements that I look back on and think, “Yeah, I’m good enough to do this.” – Frank Lara

My guest for today’s episode is the Roots Running breakout star of 2020 not named Noah Droddy. Frank Lara was the US Champion in the 15K despite finishing second after the winner tested positive for EPO. We hear his thoughts on that. He ran 27:44.65 for the 10,000 meters and 61:50 for the half marathon last year. We recorded this episode a few weeks ago so we touch on his hopes for the new year and he makes his pitch to a potential sponsor. Frank will be among the athletes competing at the Trials of Miles Texas Qualifier next month.

You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review. We are also on Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify!

Full show notes and quotes available here.

– Runners of NYC returned with a brand new episode featuring Patty Dukes and Reph, who started Circa95. Their work looks to mesh the best of music, art, culture and athletics through running. They’ve performed at Carnegie Hall, SXSW and even at the Smithsonian Museum. Reph and Patty grew up in Washington Heights and the Bronx and when they’re not hosting their own runs they can be found running with We Run Uptown. We kicked off the new year with them because it was recently announced they were among six winners of the Tracksmith Fellowship and look to create a Hip-Hop music project “born at the intersection of arts, athletics, and social justice.”

– Sound the alarm! Woody Kincaid returned back behind the mic for an episode of Price of a Mile! The conversation with Ryan Hill was recorded a year ago but was finally released. Once again, Woody’s interview style and being able to just kick back with his teammates and getting them to open up about their history within the sport is so good. Hoping for more episodes from him in 2021.

– On More Than Running, Dana Giordano circled back with nutritionist Erin Kenney to address some frequently asked questions she gets from young runners and followers on Instagram and TikTok.

– Social Sport’s five-part series on RED-S and eating disorders concluded with Dr. Paula Quatromoni, a leading expert on eating disorders and sports nutrition, and David Proctor, elite runner and former standout athlete at Boston University. Definitely check out and subscribe to the podcast’s entire feed for the whole series.

– I was a guest on the Off Track Podcast that featured a roundtable discussion with a few college coaches including Matt Esche of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Mike Nelson of Monmouth University (formerly the head cross country coach at Marquette University while I was there). In this conversation, I shared some stories from my experience covering the sport for almost nine years. I also open up about some ideas that I have for diversifying the track and field media landscape. Stay tuned for more developments on that later this spring.

That’s it from me in the latest edition of the CITIUS MAG Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, learned something new or have any questions or commentary on anything featured in this issue, feel free to hit my inbox: [email protected]

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