RACING AMID A GLOBAL PANDEMIC + TRACK/FOOTBALL BEEF + MORE DOPING SANCTIONS

Last Saturday, I was among about 50 runners participating in two heats of a 5,000m race on a track in Brooklyn. This marked my first race against other people since March 5 and it had its weird quirks. COVID-19 precautions and guidelines were in place like mask-wearing before and after the competition but also during the first 400 meters of the race. Even though New York’s COVID cases were on the rise, I felt like enough measures were put in place to safely race for about 18 minutes or so. Enough of the people participant there were also friends, who I knew were taking things seriously over the past couple of months. I had been COVID tested twice in the week leading up to it. (Negative both times!)

Before the race, I couldn’t stop thinking about the ultimate question of “How does one socially distance themselves in a race?” If you’re fast, you can pull away from the field but that doesn’t sound sustainable. If you’re slower, you might fall back or get dropped enough to find six feet but no one wants that.

I was hopeful and fairly confident that I could get under my 18:25 personal best from April 2019 since workouts were going well even though I had been training alone for a month in Chicago. The gun went off and I somehow found myself leading the race through the first 200 meters. There were women in this field trying to break 17-minutes so I had no business being there. The excitement got the best of me.

I tucked in behind my training partner Ryan Welsh and went through the first mile in a comfortable 5:48. Everything was going according to plan through the first seven laps and then I noticed my pace starting to slip a tad above six-minute pace and that was not a great sign. It had been two months since I ran a two-mile in a workout on the same track and I split 5:49/5:52 so I was hoping to find that magic and then close hard. Nope…

I tanked and nearly dropped out with three laps to go. The end result was an abysmal 18:46 practically going backwards in the final mile. It just wasn’t my day and I was pretty bummed out afterward since you don’t get many of these opportunities in 2020. I think I’m going to try to pick up the pieces and maybe give it another shot later this week in a mini time trial before taking a much-needed break from training.

Thanks to Johnny Zhang for the awesome photo as I slowly died. Thanks for indulging me in unloading a bad race to try and put it behind me.

Onto this week’s news around the track and field world…

Take Heed from the Ivy League

The Ivy League announced their decision to forego athletic competition in fall and winter sports through February 2021. If you can remember back in March, the Ivy League was the first to cancel the men’s and women’s conference basketball tournaments and then said they would not hold fall sports due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was just the first of many dominoes to fall. I don’t necessarily think every conference will follow their lead like in March but some may.

The United States is getting hit super hard right now by the pandemic. Just last week, America was averaging 160,000 new coronavirus cases daily and killing more than 1,100 people per day. There appears to be some hope down the line with Pfizer and Moderna speeding up the testing of their vaccines that could become available possibly by the end of the year. Sports might need to get back on pause for a short period of time and that’s just one of the consequences on the public not being able to keep things under control. With regards to track and field, I think we could soon see some schools or conferences starting to scrap competing during the indoor season. I’m just surprised there hasn’t been a bit more outcry from some athletes and their possible concerns about competing in a confined space with dozens (maybe hundreds) of other people in attendance.

Track and Football Twitter Beef Continues

A funny thing happened on Twitter last week when 110 meter hurdles world champion tweeted about how some random person noted Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill and New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones were the two fastest players in the NFL this season. Holloway tweeted, “So you telling me, @Daniel_Jones10 is faster then me ??? You sir, need some help.” And then, Twitter user Jack Whilihan responded with: “Hi Grant, i’m not quite sure where you fall into this conversation? I was referring to the fastest NFL players competing in Olympic track races, obviously DK or Tyreek could beat you or me, we arn’t world class athletes.” 

Oh no...Jack just told a world champion who has run 11.24 for 100 meters, 20.66 for 200 meters and 12.98 for the 110m hurdles that he isn’t world class. 

Someone else then added that because Hill has won a Super Bowl, he could easily run 9.7 or 9.6 with competition. Stop it.

I think Marquise Dendy also nailed it in his response when he tweeted: “I hate to say this but MAJORITY of the NFL players can’t even handle the jumpers...and maybe even some 800m runners, in a “speed” race Woozy face let alone the real sprinters in the sportSmiling face with open mouth and cold sweat y’all gotta chill on the comparisons”

Shot put world champion Joe Kovacs also piped in and said that here are 0 NFL athletes stronger than him and that “Game strong and Game fast is not the same as elite strength competitors and elite sprinter speed.”  

So...inspired by Grant Holloway, we’ve decided to make some merch so that we can all make it clear to others whether you’re a world class athlete or not! Now available in the CITIUS MAG shop for a limited time.

Dr. James Li Retires From Arizona After 18 Years

Dr. James Li has decided to retire as the head cross country coach and associate head track and field coach at Arizona after 18 years. He oversaw seven NCAA championship berths including a runner-up finish by the 2013 women’s team. Li also worked very closely with Lawi Lalang and Robert Cheseret as they tore up the NCAA scene individually. Li also works with professional athletes including Bernard Lagat.

Former coach Dave Murray will take the reins as the interim head coach through the rest of the 2020-21 season until the athletic department conducts a full search for Li’s replacement.

Watch Out Marathon Project

Agent Josh Cox said he received a text from Sara Hall, just 43 days after she ran 2:22:01 for second place at the London Marathon, that she ran a marathon on the Chandler, Arizona course for December 20th. She says she ran the last 12.2 miles at 5:17 pace. For those doing the math, that’s 2:18:31 marathon pace.

Dopers Gonna Dope

– In one of the strangest cases that we’ve seen in 2020, the Athletics integrity Unit announced a provisional suspension for Ukraine’s Viktoriia Khapilina and Morocco’s Youssef Sbaai for the presence of EPO in their drug testing samples after they both won the 2020 Sofia Marathon. 

– The AIU has submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Disciplinary Tribunal’s decision to drop whereabouts failure charges against 400-meter world champion Salwa Eid Naser. The charges were initially dropped on Oct. 20.

– The AIU also announced that 2017 1,500 meter world champion Elijah Manangoi has been suspended two years (starting Dec.  22, 2019) for whereabouts failures. He will miss next year’s Olympics in Tokyo. Manangoi was provisionally suspended back in July. The AIU decision is appealable. He released a statement saying: “It was my mistake. I have received the verdict from AIU and as I sit here, I have acknowledged that I made a mistake on my Whereabouts failures and I have accepted their decisions, though it will be difficult to forgive myself...I’m a clean athlete and I will be back on track and win right.” It’s a very different approach than 100m world champion Christian Coleman continuing to fight the AIU on his suspension.

Conseslus Kipruto Faces Serious Charges in Kenya

Olympic steeplechase champion Conseslus has been charged with having sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl in Kenya. According to the Associated Press, Kenyan law officially categorizes the law as “defilement” and if he is convicted, he could face at least 20 years in prison. Kipruto was released on $1,800 cash bail and denies the charge. Kipruto has been the star of the steeplechase and has won the last three global championship gold medals. The last we heard about him was in August when he scratched from the Monaco Diamond League after testing positive for COVID-19.

CITIUS MAG Crossword No. 2

Since this was a hit with the newsletter last week, I figured we’d do it again. I’ll be giving away two CITIUS MAG crewnecks. Congratulations to last week’s winners: Derek Dixon and Sarah Lively. You can take your pick from the CITIUS MAG shop if you win. (Or you can support us and buy one anyway!) All you have to do is submit the following CITIUS MAG crossword puzzle back to me in an email. You can print it out and take a picture of it. You can fill it out on your computer if you know how to do that. I’ll pick two winners who send it back and I’ll contact them in a follow-up email.

Note: If the answer is a person, I’m looking for just their last name unless otherwise noted in the clue. I tried not to make this too difficult because I fully understand that not everyone obsesses over some stats and weird track tidbits like me. However, if you’re one of those nerds, power to you! Good luck!

Across

2. U.S. women's shot put record holder

8. Number of Olympic medals won by Paavo Nurmi

10. Starting line city of the California International Marathon

12. Footwear company sponsoring Edward Cheserek

14. Park hosting the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship

16. Olympic runner who was the subject of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

18. Dalilah Muhammad's coach Lawrence “______” Johnson

19. USA Track and Field President

20. Drink mix used by Eliud Kipchoge and other top marathoners

Down

1. Woman with the most Western States 100 Endurance Run victories

3. Tied with Allyson Felix in the 100m at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials

4. Showrunner Podcast host

5. Minneapolis mayor with a 2:16:44 personal best

6. Des Linden has two dogs: Boston and _____

7. The second-fastest U.S. female marathoner with a personal best of 2:20:57

9. College attended by Mohammed Ahmed

11. 1987 California high school cross country team the subject of a Disney movie

13. Women's steeplechase world record holder

15. The second U.S. high school runner to break four minutes for the mile

17. The Ingebrigtsen brother born in 1993, 2017 world championship bronze medalist

CITIUS MAG PODCAST NETWORK LATEST

We might be a little late to the game in getting Keira D'Amato on the podcast because she's been on a tear in 2020. She finished 15th at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 2:34:24. In June, she lowered her 5,000m personal best to 15:04 with a time trial on the track. In July, she won the MVMT Race Series in Boston with a 32:33.44 for the 10,000 meters. Most recently, she won the Michigan Pro Ekiden Half Marathon and the Sugar Run 5K over some fields with strong competition. So how she is doing this at 36? She is also a mother and a full-time realtor. 

We unpack it all by starting with her "decade of hobby jogging" before getting into serious training under coach Scott Raczko (who also used to coach Alan Webb). She shares a bit of his coaching practice and philosophy + why it works for her. She walks us through this year's races and why things have been going so well. Plus, Keira touches on vocalizing her goal of possibly breaking Janet Bawcom's 10-mile American record at the Updawg 10-Miler before shifting back into marathon focus for The Marathon Project. As a bonus: Survivor talk!

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!

Sponsorships for the CITIUS MAG Podcast remain open just in time for the holiday season. If you’re interested in supporting this show, hit me up [email protected] to get the word out about your brand, product or event. I’m all ears.

• More Than Running with Dana Giordano: Dana sits down with Roberta Gibb, who became the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon in 1966. In this episode, she discusses her early life growing IP with an interest in science and the earth, which was not a career path that was widely available to women so she decided to be a trailblazer. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify

• Social Sport: Emma Zimmerman speaks with Addie Bracy on helping co-found OUTrun, an organization dedicated to empowering and connecting LGBTQ+ individuals in the running community. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify.

• Running Things Considered: Brooks Beasts middle distance runner Henry Wynne reads a poem that he wrote during quarantine and answers listener questions about running a mile blindfolded + more. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify.

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter! If you’ve got any questions, corrections, comments or just want to share any news I may have missed, feel free to respond to this email. If you learned something new and want to pass it along to a friend and maybe encourage them to subscribe, I appreciate that.

And if you still need a smile to get your day going, click here for a video of Faith Kipyegon and Eliud Kipchoge dancing set to Justin Timberlake.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

Cheers,

Chris Chavez | Twitter | Instagram