adidas Grand Prix track meet

The adidas Grand Prix track meet from New York, which is also a Diamond League event, will be broadcasted live on NBC from 1-3 p.m. Saturday.

Some of the athletes that will be participating in the meet are Sanya Richards-Ross, who will be making her outdoor season debut, Tyson Gay, Jenn Suhr in the pole vault, Jamie Cheever and Sara Hall in the 3000m steeplechase, another Oiselle teammate Kate Grace and Morgan Uceny in the 1500m, Aries Merritt in the 110m hurdles, Ben True in the 5000m, David Rudisha, Nick Willis, Erik Sowinski and Robby Andrews in the 800m, and Jeremy Wariner and Tony McQuay in the 400m.

WNBA season

The 2013 WNBA season starts Friday. The first game of the year will be between last year's WNBA champions, the Indiana Fever, on the road against the San Antonio Silver Stars. The game starts at 8 p.m. EST and will be on Fox Sports Southwest.

Below is the rest of the WNBA schedule through May and June. The schedule lists local and national TV stations that the games will be broadcasted on.

Books read in 2013

Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
Bleed for Me, Michael Robotham
The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie Nicholl 
Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Eade
The Black Box, Michael Connelly
The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Drowning House, Elizabeth Black
Killing Kennedy, Bill O'Reilly
Argo, Antonio Mendez & Matt Baglio
Mad Women: the Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the '60s and Beyond, Jane Maas
Marilyn Monroe: A Case for Murder, Jay Margolis
Amelia Earhart: The Truth at Last, Mike Campbell
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Stephen Rebello
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan
Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charlie LeDuff
Top of the Morning, Brian Stelter
A Private Disgrace: Lizze Borden by Daylight, Victoria Lincoln

Currently Reading: Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen and the Greatest Race Ever Run, Matt Fitzgerald

5K Race for Diabetes

I ran the 5K Race for Diabetes Saturday. It was a lovely sunny morning with temperatures in the 60s with a slight breeze.

I started the race in the third row back. Some walkers started to the right of me. I didn't understand why they started near the front. It could have been their first race. When the race started, I found myself between the fast group and the slower group. I always get stuck in the middle. I ran next
to a couple of guys for a while, but I ended up dropping them soon.

A couple of guys passed me near the mile mark. They were running a little faster then me, so I couldn't keep up with them. I did catch up with a couple of teen boys. It seemed that they started the race too fast as both of them were walking. Not long after I catch and pass them, they are passing me. That short walk must have helped them because they started pulling away from me.

I was right where I wanted to be at the 2 mile mark. My goal was to keep my pace up and finish with a good time. I was by myself with four blocks to go. I could hear a man behind me encouraging his kids to keep it up. With two blocks to go, the man and his pre-teen daughter passed me. They both pulled ahead of me, but not too far. With a block to go, they both picked up their pace. As did I. The man and his daughter ended up finishing a few seconds ahead of me. I finished in 25:59. I was the sixth overall female and placed second in my age group.

This is the second time I have run this race. They course may have changed since I ran it last. I really don't remember. The course this time was very nice and flat. It also had plenty of shade. This is a race that I will have to run again.

Favorite photos from May 14, 2013

Bohemian National Cemetery IV - Chicago, IL

Treadmill repair

While I was running on my NordicTrack Commercial 2150 treadmill last Friday, the belt stopped moving.

My husband and I have been waiting for parts for a while. The treadmill repair guy was at our house probably a month ago because the belt jerked every now and then, the deck would decline on its own and the motor was making loud noises. When the repair guy opened up the treadmill, he saw that he needed a few more parts before he could fix everything.  I asked him to put the treadmill back together so I could continue to run on it. Last Friday, my luck finally ran out. The motor finally gave up.

I had to run outside when the treadmill was no longer functional. I ran outside for the next four days. That must be a record for me. For the past six or seven years, my daily runs have been on my treadmill. In those five days I ran in cold spring temperatures, sun and wind. Sunday morning was a treat because I ran in all three: sun, cold and wind. I started my run at 7 a.m. and it was so cold outside. It was so cold that frost formed on my car windows. So much for warm May spring temperatures. It was only in the 30s and it was so windy. Another windy day was Tuesday. It was really bad. The wind was around 20 mph. That isn't too fun running into that. But I made due and did log a few miles before a busy afternoon.

The repair guy had an appointment to come back to the house Tuesday afternoon. All of the replacement parts were waiting for him. He opened all of the boxes and got to work. It took him about two hours to replace all of the parts. Our treadmill is basically new. Everything was replaced except for the frame and console.

I got on the treadmill for a couple of minutes after the repairman left. It is such a smooth ride. My first run on the treadmill was Wednesday. It felt so springy and it was so quiet. For the last month, the motor was loud. Not anymore. I actually had to turn the TV volume down because it was too loud.

I know most people don't love the treadmill, but I do. Now that it is completely fixed, I will be starting my Interval Tuesdays again next week. I haven't done any since before my 100K attempt. I need to work on my speed and hills again.

Big Ten Track and Field Championships

Mike Dickbernd

The Big Ten Track and Field Championships took place over the weekend on the at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The Nebraska Huskers won the men's title with 13.50 points and the Penn State Nittany Lions won the women's title with 133 points

Some highlights from the weekend was Wisconsin's Maverick Darling winning the 10,000m on Friday, May 10. Darling was following Indiana's Zachery Mayhew for most of the race. Darling passed Mayhew with 800m to go and easily won the race. Darling won the race in 29:25.11. That time set a track record.

Michigan's Amanda Eccleston won the 1500m run on Sunday in 4:20.75. Ecceleston's teammates finished behind her in third, fourth and fifth. Rebecca Addison was third in 4:21.55, Shannon Osika was fourth (4:23.00) and Jillian Smith was fifth (4:23.72). Michigan's 1-3-4-5 finish in the 1500m gave the Wolverines 25 points.

mgoblue.com

Andrew Bayer of Indiana was a double winner over the weekend. Bayer won the 1500m in 3:44.24 and the 5000m in 13:54.71

Illinois sophomore Ashley Spencer was a triple winner. Spencer won the 200m in 23.20 and the 400m in 52.27 and was the anchor on the winning 4x400m relay. Also on the winning relay was Marissa Golliday, Ahlivia Spencer and Samantha Murphy.

The Big Ten Network will air tape-delay coverage of the outdoor track and field championships on Sunday, May 19 at 1 p.m. EST.

Women's Team Standings

1. Penn State                 133       
2. Illinois                       120  
3. Ohio State                 86       
4. Michigan                   82  
5. Michigan State          76       
6. Nebraska                   75  
7. Wisconsin                 74.50
8. Minnesota                 66.50
9. Indiana                      38     
10. Purdue                     37  
11. Iowa                        31    

Men's Team Standings  

1. Nebraska                   131.50    
2. Minnesota                  93  
3. Wisconsin                  86.50   
4. Illinois                       86  
5. Iowa                          85       
6. Ohio State                 84  
7. Indiana                      67.50    
8. Penn State                 59  
9. Purdue                       56      
10. Michigan                 36  
11. Michigan State        33.50                                                 

IAU 24 Hour World Championships

@usaultrarunning twitter

So many running events took place over the weekend: Diamond League Doha, USA 25K Championships, IAU 24 Hour World Championships, Big Ten Track and Field Championships and Pac 12 Track and Field Championships.

The IAU 24 Hour World Championships took place Saturday-Sunday in Steenbergen, Netherlands.  The men and women's USA teams won gold medals. American Jon Olsen was the individual champion of the men's race running 167.568 miles and
teammate John Dennis was second with 163.255 miles. Sabrina Little was second overall in the women's race finishing behind Japan's Mami Kudo who ran 156.712 miles. Little set an American Record at the World Championships finishing with 152.030 miles. Little broke teammate's Connie Gardner's 2012 record of 149.368 miles. Finishing in third was American Suzanna Bon (146.785); fourth was American Traci Falbo (142.785).

Sabrina Little Instagram

Men
1. Jon Olsen, 38, Modesto, CA, 167.568 miles
2. John Dennis, 32, Takoma Park, MD, 163.255
3. Florian Reus, 29, DEU, 161.518
4. Anatoly Kruglicov, 55, RUS, 159.717
5. Timur Ponomarev, 24, RUS, 159.484

Women
1. Mami Kudo, 49, JPN, 156.712 miles
2. Sabrina Little, 26, Waco, TX, 152.030 (American Record, old record 149.368 miles by Connie Gardner, 2012)
3. Suzanna Bon, 48, Sonoma, CA, 146.785
4. Traci Falbo, 40, Charlestown, IN, 142.730
5. Anne-Marie Vernet, 45, FRA, 142.538

Teams - Men
1. USA, 485.012 miles
2. Japan, 467.623
3. Germany, 467.275

Teams - Women
1. USA, 441.545 miles
2. Japan, 438.428
3. France, 416.752


Complete results of the IAU 24 Hour World Championships.

Favorite photos from May 6-10, 2013

Diamond League

If you are near a television today, turn it to Universal Sports Network at Noon EST. Today is the first Diamond League track meet of the year and it will be broadcast live. The series starts in Doha, Qatar.

Many of the London Olympics athletes will be participating in the meet: Allyson Felix, Francena McCorory, David Rudisha, Christian Taylor, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Dawn Harper, Lolo Jones, Kellie Wells, Tiffany Porter, Brittany Resse, Janay DeLoach Soukup.

So many more athletes then I mentioned above will also be participating in the meet. Can't wait to watch the meet.

I have attached a list of the events included in today's meet below.

Books read in 2013

Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
Bleed for Me, Michael Robotham
The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie Nicholl 
Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Eade
The Black Box, Michael Connelly
The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Drowning House, Elizabeth Black
Killing Kennedy, Bill O'Reilly
Argo, Antonio Mendez & Matt Baglio
Mad Women: the Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the '60s and Beyond, Jane Maas
Marilyn Monroe: A Case for Murder, Jay Margolis
Amelia Earhart: The Truth at Last, Mike Campbell
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Stephen Rebello
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan
Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charlie LeDuff
Top of the Morning, Brian Stelter

Currently Reading: A Private Disgrace: Lizze Borden by Daylight, Victoria Lincoln

Bohemian National Cemetery III - Chicago, IL

Addison Athletic Boosters 5K Run

I ran the Addison Athletic Boosters 5K run Saturday. The weather was around 60° and there was a 10 mph wind.

When the starter yelled 'Go', I found myself near the front. I was behind a ton of guys and two females. The lead female was running with the the lead guys, so there was no way I was going to catch her. But I knew I could catch the other female in front of me. I could tell she started out too quickly because she stopped to walk before we even reached half mile. As soon as I would catch her, she would start running again.

Further down the road, she had to stop and walk again . This time I knew I would catch her because the course was leading us up a big hill. I passed the girl as she was walking up the hill and I was running. Once I was over the hill, I settled into a pace that I knew I could keep running.

The course lead us on a dirt road and I picked a path that didn't have too many pot holes. At this point, I actually caught two guys. I was happy that I was actually running with someone. I could hear someone coming up behind me on my left. When they were next to me, I noticed it was a female. She passed me and soon after another female passed me on my right. The first female to pass me was running a fast pace and she kept getting further away. For a while I was keeping up with the second female that passed me. I was following behind her and the two guys. I was able to drop one of the guys and I was still pursuing the other man and lady. I started to lose them as the course took us up another hill. This hill had a long incline heading into it. At the bottom of the hill, I was hoping to catch them at the water stop.

I didn't plan on stopping for water, but I wasn't sure if they were. The lady ran by, but the guy reached out for a glass. He missed it on the first reach, so he reached back again and grabbed it. That wasn't the long pause I was hoping for. When I reached the water stop, the guy and lady already were running away. The course made a turn and we were back on asphalt. We were also running into some headwind.

I put my head down and kept running. When I would look up, I could see that the distance was getting bigger between us. I knew they were out of reach so I needed to keep running to make sure no one else would pass me. Making a right hand turn onto the final stretch of the race, the volunteers on the corner said a few words of encouragement. I didn't turn around to see where the next running was, there was no need to. I just listened for the volunteer. A few seconds after saying something to me, she said 'good job' to the person behind me. The gap was close. With less then a mile to go, I kept using my arms to help me keep going. I also took the shortest path around the curves to not waste any time.

Before the end of the race, the course takes us up a long hill. I put my head down and looked about 10 feet in front of me. Looking down at the pavement always seems to make the hill go by faster. I'm sure I wasn't running too fast, but I kept my arms and legs moving. Rounding a curve to the final straightaway, I picked up my pace and headed to the finish line. I crossed in 26:22.8. I was the 18th overall finisher, 4th overall woman and was first in my age group.

This was the second time I have run this race. The first time was in 2011 and my finishing time was 26:23.8. I was the 5th overall woman and placed first in my age group. I was a second faster this time around and I placed one spot higher in the women's overall standards. It isn't a huge improvement, but it is still better. That makes me happy.

Favorite photos from April 29 - May 3, 2013

Bohemian National Cemetery II - Chicago, IL

Bohemian National Cemetery I - Chicago, IL

Books read in 2013

Between Here and April, Deborah Copaken Kogan
Bleed for Me, Michael Robotham
The Making of a Royal Romance, Katie Nicholl 
Prince Philip: The Turbulent Early Life of the Man Who Married Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Eade
The Black Box, Michael Connelly
The Painted Girls, Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Drowning House, Elizabeth Black
Killing Kennedy, Bill O'Reilly
Argo, Antonio Mendez & Matt Baglio
Mad Women: the Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the '60s and Beyond, Jane Maas
Marilyn Monroe: A Case for Murder, Jay Margolis
Amelia Earhart: The Truth at Last, Mike Campbell
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Stephen Rebello
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan
Detroit: An American Autopsy, Charlie LeDuff

Currently Reading: Top of the Morning, Brian Stelter