KIMbia Athletics

Michelle Sikes, Rhodes Scholar-extraordinaire, has spent the past few weeks in and around western Kenya  pursuing some first-person scholarship about the rise of the female Kenyan distance runner.  Between dozens of interviews with local running legends, she has even managed to fit in some training, and shares below…

We ran up a mountain today.  Godfrey (Kiprotich) was EXACTLY on-time – 8:30am on the dot.  Thinking that he just might happen to arrive late, I went off to breakfast in order to have a pre-run coffee.  However, just after I left the room, he pulled up in Ben Maiyo’s faithful white truck!

We took our usual seats, in our usual order, in the cabin of the truck.  From left to right, we sit (fellow Oxford student) Jonathan, then me, and then Godfrey behind the wheel (the driver sits on the right in Kenya!  Another legacy of the British…)  We passed the Viewpoint and from there, it was down, down, down…The Viewpoint was to be our finish line.  Our starting point was a primary school 2000 meters below it. Read the full article

The conclusion of the World Athletics Final means that the 2009 track and field season has come to a close for us.  We saw many terrific performances, as our thirteen athletes who hit the track turned in a total of fourteen personal best performances, and with KIMbia talents collecting six top-five finishes in the 5000m and 10,000m races at the US National Championships — including four spots on the American World Championship team.  In particular, we were proud to dominate the Men’s 5000m in Eugene, with five runners in the top nine, and to see OTC member Matt Tegenkamp join one of the most exclusive clubs in US distance running, by going under 13-minutes in the 5000m with his 12:58.56 clocking on a chilly night in Brussels.

If you have questions for any of the members of Team KIMbia about this 2009 season,  please send them to questions[AT]kimbia[DOT]net or post them in the comments below!  If you need a quick refresher on some of the performances from the season, check the athlete bio pages or our race recaps, below.  Make sure you get your questions in by the end of the day Tuesday, September 22! Read the full article

The Nelly Train rolls on.  After pushing Olympians to the limit at the US Cross Country and 15k Championships earlier this year, Tim Nelson cut a huge swatch from his former 10k PB of 28:05, running a terrific 27:36.99 to earn an automatic World Championships Qualifying Standard and win the Kim McDonald 10k out at Stanford.  Fellow former Badger Simon Bairu took 2nd in 27:50.76 — just .05 slower than his PB — and James Carney was 5th in that same section, running 28:23.  On the women’s side, Rebecca Donaghue ran 33:08.97 to win the race and cut almost half a minute from her previous best on the track. Fitting to have two winners and two more Top-5 showings from KIMbia athletes in the 10k races bearing Kim McDonald’s name…

Pace in the top flight of the Men’s 5k sagged midrace, scuttling any hopes of achieving World Champs standards, but KIMbia athletes remained competitive.  Matt Tegenkamp and Olympian Alistair Cragg met the line in quick succession — with Teg 2-tenths behind, 2nd in the race and a 13:22 to his name.  Boaz Cheboiywo manged 7th in the same section, finishing in 13:30.  Evan Jager acquitted himself well in his professional debut at the distance, running 13:29.65 which was good for 2nd in the 2nd section.

Finally, in the Men’s 1500, Brent Vaughn was 5th in the 2nd section, clocking 3:43.89 — just 2-tenths shy of his PB — while Michelle Sikes continued a whirlwind tour of American competition with a 6th place finish in the 5000, hitting the line in 15:56.

Full results here; to see KIMbia-only results…. Read the full article

Christopher Cheboiboch took 7th place in a time of 2:16:34 in the Enschede Marathon, the 2nd oldest marathon in Europe. Competing against one of the fastest fields in the event’s history, Cheboiboch hit halfway nicely, in 1:04:42, but faded in the latter portion of the race.

At Penn, Evan Jager anchored the USA “Blue” team in the USA v. the World DMR, clocking 3:58.05 for the 1600m leg. Meanwhile, Michelle Sikes ran 4:45.59 in the Women’s “Olympic Development” Mile, which was good for 6th place and just 2 seconds back from the winner, mile specialist Geena Gall.

360 Athletics LIVE is Marathon coverage like you have never seen before.  In the Live blog below, we will be providing up-to-the-second race updates and commentary, video features, live video commentary from our on-site analysts, and (best of all) audience participation.  Let us know what you want to see in this coverage and we will do our best to get that to you.  So, sit back or stand up, cheer on your favorite runners, and enjoy 360 degree coverage of the most famous foot race in the world! Read the full article

Last Saturday, Michelle won the 33rd annual Blues Varsity Match, a cross country dual meet between Oxford and Cambridge universities at Wimbeldon Common. (Yes, those Oxford and Cambridge universities. Michelle is studying at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar.)

Michelle won the women’s race by 3 seconds in 24:36, and led the Oxford team to a 15-24 victory over Cambridge. Results of this year’s meet are here.

Michelle’s race was part of a cross country tradition dating to 1880 at Oxford. For a history of the Blues Varsity Match, go here. To learn more about the Oxford University Cross Country Club (which played an integral in creating the sport), read this.

Listen to Chris talk about life on the European circuit in this podcast at RunningTimes.com. The podcast is a supplement to an article Matt Taylor wrote featuring Chris, Matt Tegenkamp, Michelle Sikes, Simon Bairu and Tim Nelson in the magazine’s July/August issue.

Not sure why Nike chose this week to highlight Michelle Sikes (she hasn’t raced since the Falmouth Mile last August), but she is their Athlete of the Week. Our favorite part? Read her answer to, “What do you do to relax away from the track?”

Sikes will be running the US Indoor Championships in Boston before turning her attention to the outdoor season and the US Olympic Trials.

Over the course of a 13-hour plane flight from Osaka to Detriot and the 1.5 hour ride from Detroit to Greensboro, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on everything I learned in the last few weeks. It would be pretty daunting to try to cover it all, so I’ll condense it down to the most important parts. My Top Five Lessons from Two Weeks in Osaka:

5) The Japanese bring the concept of order to a new level.
That applies to everything from conversations and introductions to riding an escalator. For instance, the language itself is divided between words to use in formal vs. informal relationships settings. Ohayou = Good morning, informal. Ohayou Gozimas = Good morning, formal.
Escalators provide the astounding sight of person after person neatly filing to the far right side of every stair – leaving free the path on the left for that late-rising American who needs to race up the escalator to make her next appointment on time.

4) Team USA and the Japanese Public Transportation System were similarly unbeatable
From Alyson Felix, Tyson Gay, and Jeremy Wariner winning golds in the sprints to Bernard Lagat’s double and the 1-2 finish of Reese Hoffa and Adam Nelson in the men’s shot put, it was a joy to watch every aspect of the week’s competition. Similarly, as far as I’m concerned, the Japanese public transportation system has no rival from any other Read the full article

I encountered so many fantastic Japanese people today! It began with the San Francisco State graduate-turned hotel bellhop. He gave me directions to the nearest public pool and doubled my Japanese vocabulary by explaining that “Ohio” means “good morning”! I’ve had plenty of opportunities to overuse both this word and my second Japanese phrase, “Arigato” (Thank You) throughout the course of the day.

Michelle Takes on the Public Pool System of Osaka…
Armed with verbal directions and a city map, I set off from the hotel in search of the pool. It’s great to finally experience the city without being separated from it by the glass windows of a bus. I took the scenic route, which parallels the city canal. I’m so relieved that this waterway cuts through the city; it gives a connection to nature that otherwise seems very difficult to find. Not that the shops and alleyways and buildings that have replaced a more natural world aren’t fascinating in their own way, but I’m finding more and more that I prefer a balance of human development and green places.

I manage to arrive at the pool without becoming ridiculously lost (one point to Michelle), but then have to confront the challenge of a) payment for the use of the pool and b) finding the locker room in a completely English-free environment (one point to The Pool). After much gesturing, hand motioning, and wasted breath in futile spoken conversation, I successfully pay and am admitted into Read the full article