Fast Women, April 1, 2019, Issue 13

Two running greats, who both grew up in Massachusetts, Shalane Flanagan (left) and Lynn Jennings, at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships. (Photo courtesy of Michael Urquiola.)
 

Emily Sisson becomes third-fastest U.S. woman in the 10,000m

Emily Sisson and Molly Huddle are in the thick of their London Marathon training, but they took a brief detour onto the track Friday night to run the 10,000m at the Stanford Invitational, with an eye on the Olympic (31:25.00) and World Championships (31:50.00) qualifying standards.

Emily Pritt rabbitted Sisson and Huddle for just over 2,000m, and after that the training partners took turns in the lead. With 600 meters to go, Huddle could no longer hang on to Sisson, and Sisson kicked to a win in 30:49.57, a personal best by 36 seconds. Huddle, who said she tied up a bit, finished second in 30:58.46. Sisson became the third-fastest U.S. woman of all time, and Huddle already holds the American record of 30:13.17. (Results, with splits)

Sisson went through 5K in approximately 15:41 and came back in 15:08. She covered the last 1600m of the race in 4:39.94.

Both Sisson and Huddle are clearly in good shape about a month out from the London Marathon, and the U.S. now has two women who have met the Olympic 10,000m qualifying standard.

Behind Sisson and Huddle, many runners had breakthrough performances. Boise State’s Allie Ostrander broke Emma Bates’ school record in her debut in the event, running 32:06.71.

I’ve long watched Ostrander and thought that she’s an eventual marathoner temporarily running track races. (I have no idea if Ostrander is on board with this.) For a portion of Shalane Flanagan’s NCAA career, she raced the mile, but because Flanagan ultimately wasn’t a miler, she regularly got outkicked. So that’s who I think of every time I see Ostrander get outkicked over shorter distances. But on Friday night, Ostrander was the one doing the outkicking.

Syracuse’s Paige Stoner finished close behind Ostrander in 32:07.36, also a school record. Alaska Anchorage’s Caroline Kurgat (32:08.09) and Washington’s (and Australia’s) Izzi Batt-Doyle (32:20.84) were the next two collegians across the line. Both set school records, and Kurgat also set a Division II record.

Arkansas’ Taylor Werner was the next collegian, in 32:26.38. After a strong indoor season, Werner is proving herself to be one to watch going forward.
 

A great event but a rough day for the U.S. at the World Cross Country Championships

On the whole, the U.S. had a disappointing performance at the World Cross Country Championships. There were some individuals who met or exceeded expectations, but with the senior women eighth, the junior women 14th, and the mixed relay fourth, the results did not reflect the current strength of U.S. women’s distance running. (Complete results)

Stephanie Bruce moved up steadily throughout the race, going through lap one in 75th place and moving up to 33rd by the finish. She led the U.S. women, and had she run that well but been the U.S.’s fourth runner, the team standings would have looked different. (Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda were in their own league this time out, but fourth place was up for grabs.)

Behind Bruce, Sarah Pagano was 50th, Anne-Marie Blaney 51st, Karissa Schweizer 56th, Marielle Hall 58th, and Courtney Frerichs 75th. Savannah Shaw, a first-year student at NC State, led the junior women with her 53rd-place finish.

The mixed relay team of Kirubel Erassa, Shannon Osika, Jordan Mann, and Eleanor Fulton finished fourth out of 10 teams. It temporarily looked like the U.S. might earn the bronze after Morocco was disqualified for an exchange that occurred slightly outside the exchange zone. The decision was overturned, which was fortunate, because that would have been a disappointing way for the U.S. to earn a medal. (The U.S. was 32 seconds out of third place, it wasn’t like the race came down to a lean.)

The relay was introduced in 2017, and World Cross is only held every other year now, so this was only the second time it was run. It’s still not attracting the same level of competition that the individual races get, but it’s a fun addition to the program without getting too gimmicky.

As David Monti wrote, the course was the real star of the show, and Aarhus, Denmark, did a fantastic job of hosting the meet. I can’t remember the last time a World Cross Country Championship generated so much discussion in advance of the event.

It was apparent that most of the athletes competing did not grasp how challenging the course was until they toured it in person, so the U.S. was at no significant disadvantage there. However, the U.S. runners may have been less prepared than most, because cross country is more often run on relatively well-groomed courses in the U.S. (Sara Hall had an interesting tweet about the Ethiopian advantage.) Additionally, we determined our team on a course that had almost nothing in common with the Aarhus course, so we may have selected for the wrong strengths.

Up front, Kenya’s Hellen Obiri held off Ethiopia’s Dera Dida by two seconds to win her first (and last, she says) World Cross Country title. With this win, Obiri becomes the first woman to win senior World titles in outdoor track, indoor track, and cross country.

Marathoner Kelsey Bruce also runs World Cross

Because open runners who had run 37:00 or faster for 10K could enter the elite women’s race at the World Cross Country Championships, LetsRun.com decided they would fund an additional U.S. runner to compete in the event. They announced the opportunity six days out from the race, which didn’t leave any time to specifically train for the event.

But on Monday, LetsRun offered the spot to 2:31:53 marathoner Kelsey Bruce, which was a bit surprising, given the male-centric original announcement, but props to them for doing so. Bruce flew to Denmark two days later, and had a solid showing on Saturday. She doesn’t show up in the results, but had all of the runners in the race counted in the scoring, she would have finished 83rd.

Bruce, who is unsponsored and works full time, gained some international experience and got media attention that she doesn’t usually receive. And she clearly appreciated the opportunity.
 

The last U.S. runner to win a World Cross Country title makes an appearance in Aarhus

When I first started running in 1990, Lynn Jennings was the runner I looked up to most. She was the dominant U.S. runner, winning the World Cross Country title in 1990, 1991, and 1992 and an Olympic bronze medal in the 10,000m in 1992.

Her 1992 World Cross Country title was particularly impactful for me because I watched it in person. The meet was held in Boston, a couple hours from my house, at Franklin Park, where my high school team raced regularly. It’s the last time the event was held in the U.S., and though the course wasn’t particularly tough, there was packed snow on the ground, which made it more challenging, especially for the athletes who were running barefoot. (That’s one of the details that sticks in my mind, 27 years later.)

You can watch highlights of the race here (junior women at the start, senior women at the 5:05 mark). You might recognize the winner of the junior race—a young Paula Radcliffe. Haile Gebrselassie, who would become one of the most dominant runners of all time, was the runner-up in the junior men’s race that day.

I remember going home from that meet and running my 7.4-mile loop* faster than I ever had before, and that season in general was a springboard to a higher level of running for me. Watching that meet in person made a big difference in my running career, and I’d love to see it come back to the U.S.

When Jennings retired from competitive running, she moved on to other things. She didn’t stay heavily involved in the sport, and for quite a long stretch, as far as I could tell, Jennings completely avoided media attention.

It was clear she was watching here and there, though. One time, she emailed me when I was running the original Fast Women website to correct me when I used the term “former Olympian.” I was mortified, but I now think of her any time I see the term, and I’ve never used it since.

I hesitate to even write about her, because she’s clearly preferred some level of privacy over the years. But at the same time, it makes me a little sad that those who are newer to running tend to know of Joan Benoit Samuelson and Deena Kastor, but they’re less likely to remember the woman who came in between them, who was just as dominant, if not more so. I don’t see it happening, but if there’s any U.S. runner who should be the subject of a book (as discussed last week) but isn’t, it’s Jennings.

If you pay close attention, there have been some updates in more recent years. In 2006, she made an appearance at the More Marathon. In 2012, Jennings set an age-group record at Head of the Charles. Jennings almost died of an acute bilateral pulmonary embolism in 2014, but credited running for saving her life. For a handful of years, she was the running program director at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, but she resigned in 2015. She’s also shown up in some unexpected places. (There are some wonderful details in that last article.)

If you read her interviews or watch the one-minute videos at this link, it’s clear she’s someone who has a lot of wisdom to share. This is why I was very happy to see Jennings make an appearance this past weekend in Aarhus as an IAAF ambassador. I haven’t seen any updates come from it other than a few photos posted to social media, like the one at the top of this newsletter, some photos on the IAAF website, and this video.

I’m told that this was the first time Shalane Flanagan and Jennings, both stars who went to high school in Massachusetts, had met in person. And I’m also told that no, this does not mean that Jennings plans to start frequenting the running circuit in the way that some of the other runners who achieved a similar level do.

But the 15-year-old in me is just happy that she made this appearance, if only because it was a chance for a few more people to learn about, or be reminded of, the greatness that is Lynn Jennings. And heck, there were a few times during Saturday’s race that I kind of wished we could sub her in.

(*As measured by car odometer. When I returned to all of my loops many years later, with a GPS watch, it turned out they were all short.)
 

Other news

• In extreme running feats, Nicky Spinks and Stephanie Case both made it through one lap of the Barkley Marathons and part of a second loop before having to drop out. And it appears that a group of women representing Tempo Journal set a new Speed Project women’s record.
• This is a must-read piece by Lauren Fleshman, about an unexpectedly good racing experience, and so much more.
• Erin Strout got a good update from Shalane Flanagan for Women’s Running.
• Kellyn Taylor’s life changed dramatically in the last week, but she’s still putting in quality training. She tweeted that her family of three had become a family of five. Her next update specified that in addition to an eight-year-old daughter, she now has two boys under age three. Meanwhile, she’s clearly in good running shape, closing a workout with a 4:51 mile at altitude on Wednesday and averaging 5:41 for 10 miles, including a puke break, a few days later.
• Soon-to-be mother of four Sara Vaughn shares some good tips about running (or not running), pregnancy, and comebacks.
• A good Q&A with Athing Mu, by Johanna Gretschel
• Colleen Quigley had some good advice for young runners on this 25-minute podcast. The host made an offhand comment (around the 15:20 mark) about Quigley potentially becoming a track & field analyst because of her history with modeling and how comfortable she is behind a microphone. Quigley is well-spoken and could potentially do well in such a career. But wouldn’t it also be nice if some day, women didn’t need to look like models or have model-like qualities to do commentary, because it’s certainly not a standard to which we hold our male track & field analysts.
• Kim Conley says her book, originally scheduled to be published today, will now come out July 1.
• A five-minute video interview with three-time Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier Lauren Philbrook, who will run this year’s Boston Marathon, which begins in her hometown. She’s a Division III national champion, 2:38 marathoner, and a college professor.
• I enjoyed last week’s episode (#36) of Lauren Fleshman and Jesse Thomas’ podcast, Work, Play, Love. I particularly liked Thomas’ discussion of how he’s dealing with an injury scare. As I listened to it, I thought how nice it would be to have the perspective and wisdom that can come with age combined with the speed and recovery powers of youth. Young runners, listen to what he says, then you can be wise and fast.
• Melanie Brender, who ran for the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project for three years, writes about her experience with dysthymia, and provides tips for helping people with mental illness.
• A good read about Annabel Marsh and Caroline Merrill, who became the third and fourth women to run across the U.S., in 1984.
• Kara Goucher was once again a guest on Carrie Tollefson's podcast. One of the things she said, about how she used to avoid any type of rough terrain, including delaying runs for hours while waiting for ice patches to melt, made me think of the U.S.’s challenges at World Cross.
• Nike recently flew YouTuber Emma Abrahamson to Portland for a media event and while there, she got some fun interviews with members of the Bowerman Track Club. By inviting Abrahamson to the event, Nike was likely able to reach a different (younger) audience. And good for Abrahamson for seizing an opportunity and doing a good job with it.
• Is it really possible that only 27 percent of the runners in the Paris Marathon field are women?
• Brenda Martinez will hold her free altitude camp for girls for the seventh consecutive year. Runners are selected based on application essays. Most of the slots go to girls from Southern California, but there are two nationwide slots available as well. This 2017 Runner’s World article has more details about the camp.
• The New York Times is hosting an event (April 13 at 3:00 p.m.) at the Boston Marathon, hosted by writer (and 2:57 marathoner) Lindsay Crouse. She’ll be talking with Tatyana McFadden, Shalane Flanagan, Des Linden, Jordan Hasay, Sara Hall, and others about the state of U.S. women’s distance running. Tickets are $25, but this week’s New York Times running newsletter has a $5 discount code.
• This is a basketball article, but it’s also a coaching article that raises so many important points, which are also relevant to running, particularly the NCAA system.
• An article about Ladia Albertson-Junkans and Gabe Grunewald, which reminds me that registration for the Brave Like Gabe 5K, including a virtual option, is open.
• Taylor Dutch profiles Connie Gardner, who won the USATF 100-Mile Road Championships in February, at age 55.
• Devon Yanko was on last week’s episode of the For the Long Run podcast, and I thought she had some excellent comments about sponsorship, including the fact that when people undervalue themselves, it hurts everyone.
• The USATF Mountain Ultra Trail Council announced the team that will represent the U.S. at the Trail World Championships (27.3 miles) June 8 in Portugal. They are Kasie Enman, Dani Moreno, Elizabeth Ryan, Corey Conner, Anna Mae Flynn and Kelly Wolf. This announcement does a nice job of providing a brief bio of each runner and where you can follow them.

Upcoming

Next weekend, last I heard, Amy Cragg is running the Prague Half Marathon (a possible American record attempt?) on Saturday. On Sunday, Sifan Hassan is apparently taking a crack at the world record at the Berlin Half Marathon, and Aliphine Tuliamuk is running the Rotterdam Marathon, which will be televised on NBC Sports Gold.

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Thanks for reading. I intended to add your book recommendations this week, but in the interest of saving space, I’ll do it next week instead.

Alison