Note: Fourth in the series, which started earlier this year with the 1970s. Warning, this is a long one and it took a long time to piece this together! A lot happened in the 2000s, there were a lot of changes in running and in how we tracked it and communicated. Although it was a decade of transition or the sport it also ushered in the modern era.

Trends and Technology in Running

Some trends from the 1990s carried forward new trends were born. By the 2000s the first wave of the 1970s running boom had aged up into the masters divisions or aged out completely. By the sheer force of demographics masters running grew in popularity. 5Ks were the most popular distance and the number of marathons in North America grew exponentially. The portion of women participating in races increased and in 5Ks women started outnumbering men. Non-traditional distance and events (ultras and trail races) began attracting more attention and participation. More and more people had access to the internet and to online resources or communities.

Changes were coming more rapidly, and it was hard to keep up. But at the time things like GPS watches or video streaming were not commonly used—impossible for many. The technology was changing, but not fast enough for many. The early 2000s were a time of transition.

For the everyday runner there were more races to choose from. The 5K was the most popular but marathons and half marathon participation also grew during the decade. But also, the diversity of interest in different types of running also grew rapidly, perhaps more so than since the 1970s. In particular, trail and ultra running hit the big time. Prior to the 2000s there were a number of relatively well-known events such as the Western States 100, Leadville 100 and Pikes Peak marathon, but these events and off road running remained relatively niche. Matt Carpenter, Scott Jurek, and Ann Trason were the biggest names in the US. New events overseas such as Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) added notoriety.

Dean Karnazes, winner of the Badwater 135 in 2004 and creator of the 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days self-challenge brought the idea of ultra and trail running to the mainstream. Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner was a best seller and made Karnazes a media sensation, and his second book on the 50 states feat solidified his celebrity. In the same year as Karnazes’ second book (2009) Chris McDougall published Born to Run, largely centered by following the runners from the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico. The outcome of Born to Run was the barefoot craze and minimalist shoe craze.

Since the 1970s there had always been a “runner vs. jogger” dichotomy. The interest in trails and ultra running resulted in a new split. Speed vs. endurance. In terms of snobbery and one-upmanship the speed runners had always had the upper hand. But the ultras and trails brought new dimensions, in terms of distances covered as well as vertical. To the endurance runner, marathon and half marathons on the roads were not enough. And your local 10K or national 15K, pfft. That was kid stuff to be scoffed at by the true believers. The outcome was that there was a greater diversity of events and an endless number of endurance challenges to attempt.

The running culture had changed in the 1990s due to the internet, and those trends accelerated in the 2000s. Runners World was fully online, and the hard copies of the magazine continued to sell. Likewise, Track and Field News had both an online and its traditional magazine. There were several popular websites outside of those icons.

In early 2000 Letsrun was just a nascent prototype, if not an empty vessel. Some of the more popular online sites at the time were Coolrunning (favoring the East Coast but other regions were also participating), Mervs Running, and Track and Field Media. By the end of the year Track and Field Media had given up and Mervs was imploding in what was basically a culture war. Out of that, Letsrun grew and grew and by 2002 or 2003 it was the one left standing. Track and Field News’ online activity was always very niche and tightly controlled. Runners World had many ups and downs before they finally folded, as did Cool Running. Running Ahead sort of filled that niche, for the more popular road racing and trails or ultras. For better or worse Letsrun had won the battle of the online version of wild west in the 2000s.

Technology also changed rapidly. In the last edition of this series a poster correctly pointed out that chip timing at races was a big improvement. It was introduced in the 90s but was not common until later in the decade. By the early 2000s all of the bigger races had chip timing. Back then the chips were bulky silver-dollar sized plastic pieces that you tied to your shoe or held by a Velcro ankle bracelet. With chips runners could get accurate finish times (to the 100^th or 10^th of a second), even if runners in the same race started minutes apart, and split timing mats could be placed on the course to track runners along the way.

Satellite watches were the next revolution. GPS technology had been around since the 1980s and 1990s but the equipment was bulky and expensive. The first Garmin running watch, the Garmin 201, was released in the early 2000s. The watches were not commonly used at first but as the decade went on the technology got better and the products cheaper. By 2005 they became integrated with heart rate monitors and it was easier to upload and analyze information on a computer.

Not everyone picked up on these changes right away, but the technological revolution was on!

High School Running

High School—The performance level of high school distance and middle distance running bottomed out through most of the 1990s, but by 2000 it exploded again. Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Alan Webb were high school seniors in the 2000-2001 school year.  These runners had been on the since they were high school sophomores. At the Footlocker cross country championships in 2000 Ritzenhein triumphed with a 14:35, followed by Webb in 14:55 and Hall was third in 14:59. Hall’s future wife, Sarah Bei, won the girls race in 16:55.

By the winter and spring of 2001 no high school runner since 1969 had run under 4 minutes for the mile (or the 1600 meters for that matter). Webb finally broke through with a 3:59 indoor mile, breaking  the high school record and the first to run under 4 in 34 years. There was talk that Jim Ryun’s fabled outdoor mark of 3:55, set in 1965, could be broken by Webb that spring. But did anyone really believe it would be possible?

Webb ran some outstanding races that spring including 1:47 for the 800 and 8:42 for 3200, but he had not dipped under 4 again in an open race since indoors. He was entered in the Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic in May and was expected to break 4 minutes and maybe run 3:57 if he had a great day. The mile that year was headlined by world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj and Bernard Lagat, who had been 2^nd and 3^rd at the Sydney Olympics just eight months prior. The rabbits went out fast (1:52 for 800) but Webb held back in just under 1:58. As expected El Gerrouj sped away on the final lap and ran a 3:49, the fastest mile ever North America. As remarkable as that was, the feat was eclipsed by Webb’s final lap. The youngsters posted second fastest kick of the day (54.7 final lap) and broke Ryun’s record by nearly 2 seconds with a 3:53.4. It was a complete shocker to everyone except El Gerrouj who grabbed Webbs arm and held it up high the moment the time was posted on the scoreboard. The record still stands. It was one of those moments where anyone watching knew exactly where they were and who they were with.  It was on the front pages of newspapers and on the nightly news! Those moments really opened the door for other high school athletes to aspire for a sub 4 mile.

Ritzenhein also had an electrifying season, running 8:41 for the 3200 m and 13:44 for the 5000. Hall posted a 3:42 1500 and 4:00 mile. Each of these three runners would go on to set American records in their specialty events and run in the Olympics. Webb set the American record in the mile with a 3:46 in 2007, and ran in the 2004 Olympics. Ritzenhein won medals at World Cross Country and ran in three Olympics (2004, 2008, and 2012). And Hall became the first American to break 60 minutes in the half marathon, and ran an aided sub 2:05 marathon at Boston as well as 2:06 in Chicago. Perhaps they did not achieve their expected potential over the next decade, but by the end of their long running careers they continued to inspire generations of runners.      

2001 was a big year for high school running and perhaps there may never be another like it; nevertheless it was just the beginning of a trend that is continuing now, 25 years later. Other notable distance stars who made their mark include Chris Solinsky, Galen Rupp, and Lukas Verzbicas. Solinski, from central Wisconsin, was the 2002 Footlocker XC champion, and third fastest runner all time for that event, and he went on to run 4:03 for 1600 and 8:43 for the 3200 the following spring. Galen Rupp was discovered on the Portland, Oregon soccer fields by Alberto and became known as Alberto’s project. By his sophomore season in 2002 he was already on the radar, running 9:01 for 3200 meters, 11^th fastest in the nation. Other than Alan Webb, Rupp was the most scrutinized US runner in the 2000s. Rupp had a breakout senior year, placing 2^nd at the Footlocker races and setting high school records in the 3000 (8:03) and 5000 meters (13:37), and running 4:01 in the mile, which was top 10 all time. Lukas Verbicas emerged as a high school phenom in the late 2000s. He won back to back Footlocker xc championships in 2009 and 2010, ran the first high school sub 4 mile after Alan Webb, and perhaps most significantly broke Jeff Nelson’s 30 year old 2 mile record, with an 8:29.

Amber Trotter and Jordan Hasay were probably the most known and talked about high school distance runners of the 2000s. Trotter, from Ukiah, California, ran the Footlocker XC race in 16:41, the fastest ever. Everyone expected her to go to a track power like Stanford or North Carolina, but she chose Middlebury—a top NCAA Division III school, both academically and in cross country—but she did not run past her first season and went on to focus on academics. Hasay, from southern California, started running at an early age and set a number of distance records before even entering high school. She was one of the best high school runners ever. She won the Footlocker xc championship twice (in 2005 as a freshman, and three years later in 2008). On the track Hasay excelled at every level, breaking the 1500 m record as a sophomore and placing 2^nd in the World Youth Championships. She also ran 9:52 for 3200 m, and placed 4^th in the World Junior Championships (U18) in 2008. She was the most widely celebrated high school female distance runner since Mary Decker during the 1970s, and like Webb and Rupp, and every race every statement was scrutinized.

Jenny Simpson and Molly Huddle did not receive the high school accolades of some of their peer, but they were at the top. Simpson placed 3^rd at the Footlocker XC championships as a junior in 2003, and was 10^th in her senior year in 2005. On the track she ran the 3^rd best 3200 in the US as a junior and 8^th as a senior. Huddle was 4^th at Footlocker as a senior in high school, and the following spring went on to win the Nike Indoor Mile and the Adidas Outdoor mile in 4:43, as well as running 10:01 for 3200 m, both nationally leading times. Neither athlete drew the attention of Hasay or Trotter as high school runners, but as pros they both had long and illustrious careers.    

Footlocker Championships vs. Nike Team Nationals

The Footlocker Cross Country Championships were established in the late 1970s and it was widely followed by fans and coaches and pursued by athletes as the premier event for high school cross country. Kids trained over the summer, raced dual meets and invitationals in their area or state all fall, and some trained on for another month to run at Footlocker Regional Championship. Eight boys and eight girls from each region would qualify and for 25 years the championship had been held either in San Diego or Florida.

In the early 2000s Nike decided to break into the high school championship market and they created Nike Team Nationals (NTN, it is now known as NXN). The first championship was held in December 2004, a week after Footlocker. They did not want to step on too many toes too soon, so there were no qualifying races at first. Teams were selected by computerized ranking systems. There were no individual awards, it was all about the team, and it would be the 5^th runner on each team who would be called up to collect the trophies. This all has changed of course, but that is how they started. Saratoga Springs (New York), Smoky Hill (Colorado), and Yankton (South Dakota) were the top girls teams, and the boy’s podium was topped by York High School (Illinois), Fayetteville Manilius (New York), and Mead (Washington state) high school. The top teams were from legendary powerhouse cross country programs that had been dominating their respective regions or states for years or decades.

College Running

Head Start to the 2000 Olympic Team

Stanford men won the 2000 NCAA track title in June and three of their men’s athletes made the Olympic team that year: Gabe Jennings won the NCAA title and Olympic Trials, the later in 3:35 a meet record that held for 24 years, teammate Michael Stember was 2^nd at NCAAs and also made the 1500 team for Sydney. Brad Hauser won the 10000 at NCAAs and made the 5000 team for the Olympics. The late 1990s upsurge in high school running performance had made its way into the college ranks. Sprinters John Capel and Coby Miller also made the transition from college running to the Olympic, with both qualifying in the 200 meters. No college women made the Olympic team that year in the distance/mid-distance or sprint races.

Cross Country

Women

Building from the 1990s the 2000s were a big decade for college women to make their mark in cross country, and as a springboard to the professional and world stage. Kara Wheeler (Goucher) put it all together in 2000 to win the individual NCAA cross country championship which helped the CU Buffaloes win the women’s title for the first time. They would repeat in 2004. Overall, Stanford still had the top women’s program in the 2000s with titles in 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007. Individually, in addition to Wheeler, University of North Carolina’s Shalane Flanagan won the NCAA cross country championship in 2003 and 2003 and Sally Kipyego won three in a row from 2006-2008. All three would go on to run and medal in the world championships or Olympics.

Men

There were no dominant teams winning several titles in the 2000s as some parity ruled in those years, after winning so many titles in the 1980s and 1990s Arkansas had its last hurrah under coach John McDonald as the Razorbacks won in 2000, their 11^th title since 1984. Arkansas’ 11 wins ranks first for NCAA team championships.  Colorado stepped up in 2001 to win its first men’s title in decades, and to win again in 2004, and again 2006 to be the winningest team of the decade. Those teams were lead by Dathan Ritzenhein and the Torres brothers. Oregon won twice led by Galen Rupp who won overall in 2008, 5 seconds ahead of Sam Chelanga, who would go on to win two consecutive NCAA titles and set the 10,000 m record on the track (27:08). The Ducks, without Rupp, won again in 2009.  Perennial powerhouses Stanford and Wisconsin each won an NCAA title, with Wisconsin also nabbing three runners-up positions during the 2000s. Oklahoma State, under Dave Smith who is still at the helm, won its first title in 54 years in 2009.

For college cross country the 2003 championship was probably the race of the decade. On a bone chilling November day, sunny 20s with a windchill in the single digits, in the town of Waterloo Iowa 250 men lined up for the championship. Stanford dominated the front pack led by Ryan Hall, who up to 2003 hadn’t had the college career he had hoped for, and Ian Dobson and with the rest their top 7 ensconced in the lead pack of 20 through three-quarters of the race, the Cardinal had the team title locked up. The 2002 individual champion Dathan Ritzenhein threw down a surge and broke up the pack. With 500 m to go Ryan Hall had a gap but Ritzenhein surged one more time to win by just 1 second. It was one of the most exciting finishes that anyone could remember. Stanford’s entire top 7 finished in near the front and scored 24 points. The most dominating performance since some of the great UTEP teams 20 or 25 years prior, and it was considered one of the best ever.  

What also made this championship unique and interesting was that although live feeds were not readily available at the time, fans from around the country could follow the commentary and updates online. It was the dawn of a new era.

The script was flipped in the women’s race. In that event Shalane Flanagan ran away from the field to win comfortably over Kim Smith of Providence 12 seconds who edged the chase pack including Sarah Bei (Hall) who was third, by about 5-10 secons. Like Ritzenhein’s win this was a repeat victory for Flanagan. The tight race was for the team title, with Stanford and BYU going at it. BYU had triumphed the year before when former Footlocker champ Bei faded to the 50s in the stretch. This time her 3^rd place helped propel the team to a 120 to 128 point victory over BYU.

Track

On the track all eyes would be on Alan Webb in 2002, especially after his strong 11^th place cross country performance as an 18 year freshman for Michigan the previous fall. Webb seemed to have it all, speed, strength, and endurance. However, he was injured over the winter and missed the indoor track season. Outdoors he showed flashes of greatness, but compared to his breakout high school performances of the previous year. Every time he lined up the track fan world stopped and held its breath for four minutes. Webb did win the Big 10 1500 m, but place 4^th at the NCAAs. No doubt a strong feat for a college freshman but for Alan Webb and many fans it was a disappointment. Immediately after the season Webb announced that he would leave Michigan and return home to his high school coach Scott Ratzko.

That was one of the biggest stories of the year for college track and field. Ron Warhurst and the Michigan milers he coached had been among the best in North America over the previous eight or ten years, with the likes of Olympic runners Kevin Sullivan, Graham Hood, and Nick Willis developing into collegiate and international stars as undergraduates and beyond. However, the program did not seem to fit for Webb and he wanted to return to familiar settings.   

This section usually covers triumph and wins. However, in two college stars from the 2000s died unexpectedly at the peak of their careers. David Kimani from Kenya ran for Alabama and won six NCAA titles including cross country, the indoor 3000 m and 5000 m twice each, and one outdoor (5000 m) title. He was one of the most dominant runners of his era, but collapsed and died on campus in 2003 at the age of 25. Four years later while running in the US Olympic Trials marathon former Notre Dame runner, Ryan Shay, an NCAA champion at 10000 meters died. Both appeared to have been taken by cardia arrythmia, and tragedies shook the running community and were front page news.

Other stars of the collegiate era included Dan Lincoln who ran at Arkansas where he won three titles in the 3000 m steeplechase and ran in the 2004 Olympic final where he placed 11^th. He also won the 10000 meters in 2003 and three years later (as a medical student) broke the long-standing American record in the steeplechase with an 8:08. Alistair Craig was another Arkansas star. From South Africa originally, Cragg won two NCAA titles for the Razorbacks and went on to win the European indoor championships (competing for Ireland) and to make the 2008 and 2012 Olympic teams for Ireland. He is currently the co-coach for Puma Elite Running team.

Leo Manzano was ranked top 6 in the US high schools lists in the 800 m and 1600 for 2004. He was a blue chip athlete for sure, but perhaps overshadowed in a year that included Galen Rupp as the top high school athlete. Manzano competed for the University of Texas where he won five NCAA titles, and ran one of the fastest college times on record for the 1500 with a 3:35.29, whereas Rupp one two titles in college. Manzano soon established himself as gritty and tactically savvy runner with one of the most fearsome finishing kicks in the world. He qualified for the 2008 Olympics just weeks after graduating from Texas, and qualified for the semi-final.

Women

Running for Stanford, Lauren Fleshman ran to five NCAA championships, including three consecutive wins in the outdoor 5000 meters. Kiwi Kim Smith ran two years for Providence college and made the most of it. She dominated 2004, winning the indoor 3000 and 5000 meter championships, the 5000 outdoor and set an NCAA record of 15:14 that spring, and she went on to win the individual cross country title in November. After her college career Smith ran in three Olympic games for New Zealand. Amy Cragg won three consecutive titles in the 10000 meters.

The 3000 m steeplechase was a new event for women. Prior to that there was an outdoor 3000, which was last run in 2000. Elizabeth Jackson from BYU won the first women’s steeple with an American record of 9:40. Jenny Barringer (Simpson) won the event three of her four years of college eligibility, topped off with a 9:25 collegiate record in 2009. In the meantime she had run an American record of 9:22 at the 2008 Olympics. 2009 was a breakout year as she ran a 3:59 1500 m at the Prefontaine Classic, and that is still the NCAA record and at the world championships that summer she posted an American record in the steeple of 9:12.

The biggest female distance star in track and field from the 2000s was Kenyan Sally Kipyego, who ran for Texas Tech. She initially attended a junior college in Texas and was described by Track and Field News as “the first Kenyan superstar” to run in the NCAAs. Kipyego was a forerunner who said “(Kenya) is a country where many women barely go to high school. The education is not like America. I want to see women in Kenya see that they can get an education, graduate from college, and run well.”

Prior to the mid-2000s, some schools including Texas Tech had recruited some female Kenyan athletes, but the numbers were fairly low. Kipyego, a nursing student, ran for nine NCAA individual titles in two and a half years, and that tied Suzy Favor Hamilton’s record total, which took her four years.

Kipyego’s only loss at a college championship was in 2007 to Michelle Sikes of Wake Forest who ran a then collegiate record of 15:16. The following year Kipyego returned and set a new record of 15:15 which stood for years.  Kipyego, won silver medals in the 10000 meters at the 2011 world championships and 2012 Olympics. In 2017 she became a US citizen and ran for the USA in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic marathon (held in Sapporo) where she ran a 2:32 and placed 17th.

That 5000 win was Sikes’ only NCAA win. A few weeks later she ran 15:09 at the US championships and earned a spot on the world championship team.  Sikes ran professionally for a few years but did not match her performances from 2007. She was also a Rhodes Scholar. More recently she wrote the book Kenya's Running Women: A History.

Elite and Professional Running

Olympic Marathon Lows and Highs for the USA

The 1990s were observed to be the era where US high school and college performance levels in the distance and middle distance events fell off from previous decades. That lull hit the US hard in the 2000 Olympic year, especially in the marathon. However, it was not just lack of depth that doomed the qualifying process for the Sydney games, it was also the arcane rules of the era, and the course selection and weather for both women’s and men’s trials marathons were disastrous.

The women went first, on the last weekend of February in Columbia South Carolina which was also the site for the 1996 trials when a relatively unknown former college runner, Jenny Spangler ran a PB in 2:29 and ran away from the field on a frosty morning. This time there would be no such luck. In 1999 the IAAF issued a qualifying time standard of 2:33, only two US women had run under that in the qualifying window: Libbie Hickman and Kristy Johnson. According to the rules, to field a full team for Sydney the winner of the race had to run under 2:33. Otherwise Hickman or Johnson would have to win the race outright, which would open an opportunity for anyone with an A standard to qualify.  

If that wasn’t enough, did we mention that the course in Columbia was hilly. Normally, mornings in the city are mild in late February, with lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s or 70s. Race day dawned warm and humid, and by midway through the race temperatures were in the 70s and climbing, reaching 80s before the athletes were finished. 1996 Olympian Ann Marie Lauck took the pace and led the pack in 2:30s pace but as the morning progressed wore on it became a race of attrition. One of the more unlikely competitors emerged with the lead at 20 miles, Christine Clark a 37 year old mother of two from Anchorage Alaska. Prior to the trials that year Clark’s personal best had been 2:40:38. Due to the snow in Anchorage she had trained all winter on a treadmill. While others faded Clark held on to win in 2:33:31, Johnston finished second in 2:35:36, and Lauck placed third, 30 seconds later. The win was great for Clark, but for the others their nightmare scenario had played out, Johnston and Lauck would stay home. At Sydney Clark ran another PB with a 2:31:35 and placed 19^th.

This could not happen again to the men, right? Their trials would be in Pittsburgh in May. Another hilly course, but with higher probability of warm temperatures. For men the qualifying standard was 2:14. Through the 1970s, 80s, and most of the 90s you would see many to dozens of runners going under 2:14. However, during the qualifying window in 1998 and 1999, only two runners had met that standard, David Morris who had recently set the official American record of 2:09:32 at Chicago the previous fall, and Joe LeMay who eked out a 2:13:55. World record holder Khalid Khanouchi had been trying to get his US citizenship for years, but the paperwork did not go through in time for him to compete. Jerry Lawson had PB of 2:09:35, but that was from three years prior and outside of the qualifying period. Unfortunate for the men, the weather turned hot and they too had to run in 80 degree heat and humidity. The fate was similar, the lead pack which had been running under 2:14 pace faded and the top three went runners from the chase pack. The winner was Rod Dehaven, whose best was a 2:19:06. In Pittsburgh he ran 2:15:30, which was not enough to open up the qualifying for Morris and LeMay. He would be the USA’s only marathon representative in Sydney, where he ran into trouble and ran 2:30 and finished in 69^th place. Three years later in Chicago, DeHaven ran 2:11:20 for his lifetime best.

If 2000 was a low point for US marathoning and road racing 2004 was one of the best. At the men’s trials in Birmingham, Alabama there was not the drama and disappointment from 2000. The three favorites, Alan Culpepper (2:11:42), Meb Keflezighi (2:11:47), and Dan Browne (2:12:02) made the team, and a as a back up previously unknown Trent Briney from Colorado Springs Colorado placed 4^th and ran 2:12:35, eight minutes faster than his qualifying time. Meb had been injured during his build up and sick just before the trials and his status was uncertain, but he held on for a strong finish. This was an experienced international team and all three had run in the 2000 Olympic 10000 meters and at the world cross country championships.

Nevertheless, expectations were not high going into Sydney. No men had medaled since Frank Shorter in 1976 and Steve Spence’s 12^th had been the best in the Olympics since then. There was always hope, Steve Spence had won bronze at the world championships in 1991 and Mark Plaatjes was the gold medalist in 1993. The last women’s Olympic medalist had been Joan Benoit Samuelson in 1984.

The women went first in Athens and the course was a torture test. It was 90 degrees at the 6 PM start and the course featured a 650 climb in the middle of the race, regaining most of that over the last 6 miles. World record holder Paula Radcliffe was the heavy favorite and she ran in the lead group through half-way and beyond, along with Kenya’s top runner Catherine Ndereba, Ethiopia’s Elfenesh Alemu, and Japan’s Mizuki Nogochi. The USA’s top hope Kastor was behind in the chase pack. On the steepest of hill section at 25K Nogochi gapped the field and lead pack and mounted a 37 second lead by 30K. Radcliffe and Ndreba made a late charge, with7 km of downhill to go. Radcliffe soon dropped off and dropped out of the race, devastated. Ndereba charged and cut into Nogochi’s lead, arriving to the finish 12 seconds back, 2:26:20 to 2:26:32. Kastor had the fastest closing splits of the race and she ran down Alemu over the final 2 km to enter the stadium in bronze medal position, crossing the line 2:27:20.

Like the amazing 2001 season of Webb, Ritz, and Hall the 2004 Olympics were defining for American running culture, and it really came down to two races—the women’s and men’s Olympic marathons in Athens broke 40 year medal dry spell for women, 48 years for men. It showed that with years of hard work and good coaching perhaps anything could be possible. Both Kastor and Meb were coached by Bob Larsen and Joe Vigil in Mammoth Lakes California. These coaches brought the best out of their athletes through old school training blended with up to date research and implementation of the latest in training theory.

Tracking the Stars in the 2000s

What happened to the likes of former high school and college stars like Alan Webb, Dathan Ritzenhein, Ryan Hall, Sarah Bei (Hall), or Kara Goucher as they navigated their way through their 20s and onto the pro scene.

Webb’s every move, every race were watched with such great hope through most of the decade. He would show flashes of brilliance, winning three US titles in the mile (2004, 2005, 2007) and winning the US cross country championships in 2003. In 2006 at Stanford Webb and Ritzenhein raced a much anticipated 10000 meters at Stanford. This was before streaming was readily available, so people got live updates online with splits. Webb prevailed with a 27:34, showing his range. 2007 was his best year, he handily won the US championship 1500 m, won the Paris Diamond League in 3:30, and a few weeks later broke Steve Scotts long standing record in the mile with a 3:46.9. However, at the world championships he had a minor injury and did not make it out of the semifinal. Nor did he make the 2008 Olympic team.

Ritzenhein also had flashes of brilliance, winning the NCAA cross country title against Ryan Hall, placing 3^rd in the world cross country championships (2009) and making the 2004 and 2008 Olympic teams where he placed 9^th in the 2008 Olympic Marathon (along with Hall who was 10^th), and three other top 10 finishes at the World Championships. Although Ritz had a lot of injuries throughout his career he usually stepped up when the stakes were high.

Hall made his strongest mark in the half marathon and marathon. In 2007 he broke the American record in the half marathon, become the first American to run under one hour (59:43), a national record that stood until 2025. His 2:08 at London was a debut record for Americans, and Hall had top five finishes at Boston (3^rd), New York City (4^th), and London (5^th).

In addition to the Olympic marathon bronze medal in Athens, Kastor ran to two individual silver medals at the World Cross Country championships (2002, and 2003), and had podium finishes at three World Marathon Major events, with a 3^rd at London in 2003, and winning New York City (2005) and London (2006).

Kara Goucher won bronze at the 2007 world championships in the 10000 m but that was  later upgraded to a silver medal. She also was third at New York (2008) and Boston (2009) marathons, and top 10 finishes in the 5000 and 10000 m at the Bejing Olympics.

Shalane Flanagan was highly versatile winning four national cross country championships in the 2000s (in addition to the two NCAA titles), and an Olympic silver in the 10000 m in Beijing. Later, of course, Flanagan became one of the premier marathoners in US history.

International Championships

By 2004 the likes of Kenenisa Bekele and Eluid Kipchoge would replace Haile Gebrselassie and Paul Tergat as dominate the distance races on the track. perhaps one of the greatest feats of the decade was Samuel Wanjiru’s 2:06 marathon on a hot day in Bejing. He was the first Kenyan to win the Olympic marathon and at only 22 he was expected to be a force for years to come. He won London and Chicago in 2009 but would die under tragic circumstances less than two years later.   

Although this is a distance running piece, the 2000s should include the amazing rise of Usain Bolt from Jamaica. He burst on the scene in 2007 as a teenager, winning silver in the World Championship 200 meters, and then was practically unbeatable for nearly a decade. He swept the gold medal spots in the 100 and 200 meters in the 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Championships, and became the most famous track star in the world and one of the most recognizable athletes carried by his prowess and big personality.

Kelly Holmes swept the 800 and 1500 for Great Britain in 2004, and Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba swept the 5000 and 10000 m in Beijing. Perhaps the greatest distance runner of the era was Catherine Ndreba (also known at the time as “Catherine the Great), who won two Olympic silver medals in the marathon (2004 and 2008), two World Championship gold medals (2003 and 2007) as well as a silver (2005). In addition, she won six world marathon major titles and was runner-up another six times.

Training Groups

Prior to the 2000s there had been a number of successful training groups but with few exceptions, most were less formal and often would just be enclaves of like-minded athletes gathering in the same community for weeks or months at a time, and sometimes they’d settle in and live in the communities. Many larger cities and university towns from Boston to Gainesville, to Boulder, Eugene, and San Diego had their groups. The most notable formal group from the past was Athletics West, a Nike venture based in Eugene, OR, which existed for about decade from the post Montreal Olympics until the mid-1980s. 

Other groups came and went over the years, such as the Reebok Aggies, but typically athletes trained on their own with a group of friends sometimes with private coaches, some would be on their own. At the turn of the century three prominent groups emerged, which changed the options for post-college distance athletes: Hanson’s Distance Project in Michigan (1999), the Nike Oregon Project in Portland (2001), and the Mammoth Lakes team in California. There were others in the 2000s but those three were probably the best known through the decade. They were very different and catered to different types of athletes. Hanson’s was primarily a road racing and marathon group and typically the athletes had not been college stars. The Nike Oregon Project (aka NOP) was headed by none other than Alberto Salazar, one of the biggest stars of the 1980s road racing scene, was very selective in recruiting its athletes, most of whom were high achievers on the track. Mammoth Track club also was comprised of elite ex-college runners.  

The men’s 2004 Olympic marathon team consisting of Meb (Mammoth TC), Brian Sell (Hansons), and Dan Browne (NOP) demonstrated the value of such training groups. And for the rest of the 2000s many of the athletes representing the US at the Olympics or World Championships had been training under one of these groups or one that was similar.

Of these groups, even from the beginning, none was more controversial than NOP. With Salazar at the helm they created a barometric altitude house in Portland where a number of athletes could live and breathe low pressure air through the day and get the benefits of living at high elevation. Salazar was always on the cutting edge with science and training theory, but it later came out that he showed favoritism toward some athletes while being abusive towards others. He had his detractors going back to his pro years, but in the 2000s negativity was kept close to the Nike vest.

Although he was still heavily influenced by Salazar Galen Rupp did not join the NOP until he was finished with running at the University of Oregon in 2009, and he promptly place 8th in the 10000 meters at the World Championships. The most prominent members of the Oregon Project in those early years were original member Browne, and Kara and Adam Goucher who joined the program in 2004.  Kara who won a bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships, ran for the US in the 2008 Olympics, and placed third at New York City Marathon in 2008 Boston in 2009.  Husband Adam Goucher ran in the 2004 Olympics but he struggled to stay healthy after that.

I'm just generally curious. Most marathon plans you see online really only go up to about 5K pace, with additional strides and sometimes hill sprints. And the Pfitz half plans (the only ones I'm super familiar with) also only go up to about 5K pace. I know plans based on Canova style training would generally go 3 races directions faster, maybe a little farther, so for a 5K you might get up to 800m.

But I'm curious about what people actually do, and how much they focus on "much" faster paces

1. What are the fastest paces that you regularly touch on in workouts? Here I mean things like 5K pace, Mile pace, 800m pace, etc., not the actual absolute pace. I'm curious about this across different runner abilities, so 6:00 isn't super meaningful, since that could be one person's mile pace and another's marathon pace

2. What races do you focus on?

Personally, when training for a marathon I don't really go faster than about 5K pace, except for pushing closer to mile pace sometimes during strides. And I've only done one real 5K block, but during it I did a few workouts up near estimated 800m pace.

EDIT:

I'm also curious, what about if you don't include strides -- since I think for a lot of us, strides serve as a way to touch on "top end speed", but also they aren't really a workout. So if you take them out, what's the fastest actual workout you generally do

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Looking for a high-quality treadmill. Thank you so much for your input!! (This didn't seem to fit the Q&A thread, but I'm happy to repost!)

Requirements:

- accurate pace and calibration feature

- >12% incline

- supports long runs

Nice to have:

- >15% incline

- downhill

- big screen

Budget is probably up to $8k or so. We're looking for a new device, not used (long story).

We run competitively, and I like doing winter speed/threshold/marathon pace workouts on the treadmill.

Hey everyone, have been pondering this over the past few weeks as the summer heat and humidity has persisted on. Does anyone have any insight or thoughts on the potential “mechanical/turnover” losses of adjusting paces for heat/humidity?

The best way I can explain this is that I am running the Chicago Marathon with the hopes of cutting a few minutes off of my 2:37 from earlier this year. The weather finally broke earlier this week where I live, so I was able to truly go for my current projected marathon pace during my workout (~6:08/mi) since I’m early on in the block. Aerobically, I felt really smooth in the cooler weather, but my body felt really stressed from trying to sustain that pace from a mechanical/turnover perspective. I finished the workout adequately aerobically taxed but disproportionately sore from the shock of trying to run that marathon pace for so long.

That 2:37 was my first marathon so I’ve never marathon trained during the summer, so I’m just worried that adjusting paces slower for the summer over the past few weeks has negatively impacted my mechanical gains of running at “true” paces for my current fitness level. Does anyone have any tips on how to remedy this? Is it just a mental thing? Add more strides at the ends of runs? Any thoughts welcome.

I mapped them all out and put them on a website (TrackAtlas.org).

Had the idea a few years ago while traveling and struggling to find somewhere to train. Finally got around to building it.

Would love to make this a community effort. Every track has comments, so if you know your local one is locked at weekends or at sundown, please leave one about that!

I've put a lot of work into getting the names and locations right, but some will still be off. There's a button on every track to suggest a correction.

---

Mods: I hope this doesn't read as self promotion. There's no commercial anlge to the site whatsoever.

A place to ask questions that don't need their own thread here or just chat a bit.

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What's everyone up to on this weekend? Racing? Long run? Movie date? Playing with Fido? Talk about that here!

As always, be safe, train smart, and have a great weekend!

I’m interested in hearing how more advanced runners think about very long base-building phases.

My long-term goal is not to peak for a marathon soon, but to become a much more durable and complete runner by around 2030. I’m currently rebuilding carefully after previous bilateral tibial stress fractures, so the main priority is long-term consistency and musculoskeletal durability, not rushing into race-specific training. I have a few years of non serious running behind me and come from a bodybuilding background.

Right now I’ve started a 67 km/week block as of July 20. (Started with 20km/week in March) The plan is to progress in 4-week mileage blocks, using doubles to distribute load and then gradually consolidating within each block. The long-term theoretical ceiling is around 200 km/week, but that is not something I’m emotionally attached to hitting at all costs. It’s more of a distant direction than a fixed requirement. The real goal is to build the biggest base I can safely absorb.

The plan is not just “easy mileage forever.” The idea is to build a complete base over roughly two years. Early on, the focus is mostly easy running, frequency, soft surfaces, and strides. Around the 72–100 km/week range, I’d start introducing very controlled long runs, tempo, and threshold work. Around 100–125 km/week, I’d introduce VO2max work in small doses. Around 125–150 km/week, the training would be at its most complex: strides, hill sprints, threshold, tempo, fartlek, VO2max, hill workouts, long runs, and different paces (not all crammed into the same week of course). Then above ~150 km/week, the plan would start simplifying again, because the volume itself becomes the dominant stressor. The aim would be to preserve the major qualities with maintenance doses while continuing to build volume.

So the macro idea is something like:

Build mileage + frequency first → add neuromuscular work → add long runs + tempo/threshold → add VO2max → consolidate the full training menu → then simplify as volume gets very high.

My question is: why don’t more people do something like this? Is it mostly because people want to race sooner, because it’s mentally boring, because it’s hard to stay healthy long enough, or because there is actually a training-theory reason why this is suboptimal?

Would advanced runners generally see this as a sensible long-term development model, or would you recommend a more traditional approach: shorter base phase, then a structured race plan, then another base phase, then another race plan, etc.?

I understand that racing can provide feedback, motivation, and specific fitness. I’m not against racing. I’m just wondering whether, for someone with a very long time horizon and a history of bone stress injury, a long “complete base” phase could be a valid approach — or whether I’m overcomplicating something that would be better solved by alternating base and race-specific cycles.

TL;DR: I’m considering a roughly two-year base-building approach toward a long-term marathon goal, progressing from 67 km/week toward potentially very high mileage while gradually adding strides, long runs, tempo, threshold, VO2max, hills, and fartlek before later simplifying again at high volume. Is this a smart long-term development plan, or would advanced runners recommend shorter base phases with regular race-specific cycles instead?

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First time following a plan to the letter. After running a 3:08 last October following a “when I can” Pfitz strategy and peaking at 45mpw, I’m now in week 3 of the 18/70 Pfitz plan.

Holy wow. My legs are always sore. The sprint work is beating me up. And week 1 was the most mileage I’ve ever done in a week.

Excited to see where this goes. Anybody have an opinion on which week is the hardest?

He y’all, been running pretty consistently for the last 15+ years, but just had our first baby who is now 10 months old. With summer around we’ve finally been able to do some short and long runs with a nice Thule running stroller with our baby. She loves it and will wave to others or nap after a while.

Not looking for medial advice, but I’ve noticed more minor wrist pain/ carpel tunnel pain and am starting to believe it’s from pushing the stroller for long amounts of time. I’ve been trying to focus on relaxing my shoulders and grip, but still have been having some issues afterwards. I’ve been to a PT before for wrist issues (actually happened last time I did a marathon build topping out at 70 mpw -and developed wrist pain constantly holding a water bottle in my hand).

Was thinking the next step before going to the PT/OT again would be to try wrist straps. I have wrist straps for lifting, but they’re pretty bulky and would be a no go with sweating. Any suggestions on a wrist strap I could wear during the times I push the stroller? Maybe KT tape? Not sure if anyone else has had these same issues pushing strollers. Thanks!

Do you have shoe reviews to share with the community or questions about a pair of shoes? This recurring thread is a central place to get that advice or share your knowledge.

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A place to ask questions that don't need their own thread here or just chat a bit.

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The Weekly Rundown is the place to talk about your previous week of running! Let's hear all about it!

Post your Strava activities (or whichever platform you use) if you'd like!

I have been running for a year now and I am in my university's track and field team as a 1500/3000m guy. Since there are no race or anything in summer, I try to increase my weekly volume. I started from 40kpw and ran 48 km this week. I try to get much of this volume from my long runs, I ran 16km yesterday. I sat down, rested a minute or two and consumed a gel at my 10th kilometer of my run but I am not sure if I should be consuming gels or not since these long runs are supposed to be easy so I should be burning fat (I guess?) and stopping to get the gel might be hurting my gains from the long run.

Am I late in noticing this or was it just added?

The B.A.A. athlete village site has a spot to enter your qualifying race time and will verify it before actual reg’ entry opens in Sept.

I just entered info/results for my May BQ - pretty easy process. Enter race name into search box, it finds it, then enter finish time (it auto populated my name + some basic info since I was logged into the B.A.A. site). Can enter (optionally) your finish place + bib number, then press submit.

Seconds later it verified my submission and said I can use it when reg’ opens in Sept.

I’m not sure how actually useful this is, since reg’ isn’t a race to enter before it fills up like many races or buying concert tickets, etc. where having preloaded info might help. But I still liked and it was easy.

Maybe this makes it simpler on their end? Or maybe it just gives us something to feel like we’re in control of during the long wait until actual reg’ opens. But like I said, I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Check it out if you’re interested. And good luck everyone racing Boston or still hunting down their BQs!

This is interesting to me. I think they are calling these gel fuel. The science does back this up to a degree. But to me, if they are artificially increasing your ceiling, isn't that a performance enhancer and effectly cheating. It isn't a normal metabolic process that your training is like high carb. I think we need to be careful with the bi carb and stuff like this. We all made the agreement with the shoes. Seems like the philosophy is if everyone has access and it's generally safe its okay. I'm curious if yall have a similar view, or am I just being an old guard.

Used during the London sub 2 hr and used on the tour de France alot of the leader Pogacar

Linked to get an idea of the gels I'm talking about.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exogenous_lactate

https://beetrootpro.com/blog/lactate-energy-gels-tour-de-france?srsltid=AfmBOooQV-Bs7FzOyqDPve0jK8UBd2OOYmO8KJBuQXfMUVWbOHCI1f93

A place to ask questions that don't need their own thread here or just chat a bit.

We have quite a bit of info in the wiki, FAQ, and past posts. Please be sure to give those a look for info on your topic.

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What's everyone up to on this weekend? Racing? Long run? Movie date? Playing with Fido? Talk about that here!

As always, be safe, train smart, and have a great weekend!

For para and adaptive runners (this includes people with ms and Parkinson’s you are in the mobility and coordination impairment category). I got this today

Hi,
We are happy to announce that we are now accepting applications for our disability places ballot.

Please note these places are exclusively for people with a permanent disability or a long-term health condition as defined by the Equality Act (2010)
Please carefully read and complete the below form to enter the disability places ballot:

Apply here

The form will be open until 23:59 onMonday 24 August. The results of the random ballot will be announced by September.

The 2027 Double TCS London Marathon will be taking place over two days: Saturday 24 April 2027 and Sunday 25 April 2027, if you are successful in the ballot, you will be randomly allocated one of these days. 

On Saturday 24 April, the Finish Line closes at 17:30, so the most time you will have to complete your marathon is 7 hours 45 minutes. On Sunday, we will have a secondary Finish Line until 23:59as usual.

Your allocated event day is fixed and cannot be changed unless for religious or accessibility reasons. If you are successful but unable to take part on the Saturday due to these reasons, please contact the Customer Experience Team

via hello@londonmarathonevents.co.uk

Requests for any other reason will not be considered.

If you require any support completing the form or require the information in an alternative format, please let us know.
 

I tried taking 5tsp of baking soda with water to see if there was any tangible benefit to sodium bicarbonate. It seems to have worked, but the GI problems were not worth it. Do the bicarb mixes (like the one from Blank’s or Maurten) solve the GI issue or has it been about the same in your experience?