Tirunesh Dibaba, aka the "Baby faced destroyer" has a kick so hot that her shoes should be melting onto the track. Her first gold medal, in a World Championship, was in St. Denis in 2003, and Dibaba just uncorked this vicious last 300 meters and the party, was well, over! Dibaba has won gold at 5,000 meters in the World Championships in 2003, 2005, 10,000 meters in 2005,  2007 and 2009, and in the Olympics, a bronze at the 5,000m in 2004, and golds in both the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters in Beijing in 2008. Dibaba is fit again, and her light, floating stride is fascinating to watch on the Reggie Lewis Center track, where she breaks the field, and then unleashes a kick from hell, decimating her competition. Tirunesh will be running two miles on Saturday, February 4.

It is Thursday evening, and I am in the Affinia Hotel, in New York City. Long day of travel into the Big Apple. Started at 3 am in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, driving to Madison for first flight of day, at 5.30 am. Second flight, 8 am, to LaGuardia, slept a bit then met a fascinating person from Chicago Tribune.

The Press conference, with Asafa Powell, Dawn Harper, Nesta Carter and Veronica Campbell-Brown was very good, with a fine turnout. I will write about that event later tonight. I also interviewed Dathan Ritzenhein, who was giving out the Gatorade Athlete of the Year award for cross country today. Great guy, and a class act, he has recovered well from his Houston race.

 

Kenenisa Bekele is one of the greatest athletes in the world. 5,000m and 10,000 world record holder, Bekele can race from 1,500m to 15k. Soft spoken, for many years, Bekele let his racing do his speaking, but if one listens closely, Bekele speaks his heart. That is all one can ask.

Such a gentle soul off the track, one wonders where all of that focus, spirit and athleticism come from, but it is beyond despute, Kenenisa Bekele is one of sports' greatest stars and one of its greatest talents. Over the past week, Kenenisa Bekele showed that he is much more than a talented distance runner. He is also quite adept in the art of persuasion.


The Ethiopian Federation was about to make 2012 the year of no elite Ethiopians less than a week ago. There were some very upset people, to say the least and tempers, were, well, flaring, one might say some were incendiary. Into this walked Kenenisa Bekele. 

It was, per Alfons Juck, the thoughtful persuasive argument put forth by Kenenisa Bekele on behalf of himself and his fellow 34 athletes that had the Ethiopian Federation reconsider their banning of most of their major athletes due to no-shows at a camp that was, well, lacking. An observer might note that the effort it takes to run a 52 second last 400 meters at the end of a 5,000 meters pales to the effort and coolness of spirit Kenenisa must have have used to change such points of view. 

Perhaps Mr. Bekele, after he hangs up his spikes, will consider sports politics. Cool heads are needed in the Federations.

Updated January 26, 2012

This project was developed internally by New Balance's digital group. NB then hired KIMbia Athletics, to produce the British Miler. The British Miler is a digital series celebrating the history and tradition of the mile in British Athletics. The film, debuted on January 19, 2012. Jeff Benjamin caught up with Patrick Tomasiewicz to learn about the event and NB's support of the young British milers. The plans are to develop 12 thirty minute episodes, leading up for the twelve weeks before the British Trials. This is just, well great for the sport! 

Jeff's take on the British Miler is below! Nice job to KIMbia Athletics and New Balance Athletic Shoes. We hope that you like it!

(We will follow up with New Balance next week and provide more information on this fantastic series celebrating the British Miler).

Kirk Richardson is one of the classiest guys in our business. I had heard that he was at Specialized from his former workmates at Columbia. Before Columbia, Kirk was at Keen as President. Kirk was at Nike from 1979 to 2006, and was extremely involved in their running footwear business. While at Nike, Kirk had stints in Nike Europe and Nike Japan. He is also an avid climber, father, husband.

This article was sent to me by several of Kirk's former work mates, most whose lives were changed by working in collaboration with Kirk. Kirk Richardson's name would come up with so many footwear people across the industry. He was, and is, a very positive guy with an ironic sense of humor. Kirk is very collaborative, it may one of his strongest management traits.

Kirk was one of the main reasons I was able to have some success in working with Nike in the early nineties. He had me pitch his team, and while it was nerve wracking, they were quite fair. After that, I was fortunate to see Kirk a few times each year, for nearly two decades. Our visits were and are, always about checking up on family, friends and stories, we never miss a good story about the industry.

We wish him the very best as he begins his new job as GM for U.S. at Specialized Bicycle.

Here is the preview of the 2012 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, courtesy of our friend, Pat Butcher.

Well, all is better in Ethiopia. The 34 banned athletes are no longer banned and the athletes who were planning to run in Dubai on Friday are cleared. Millrose is planning a killer 5,000 meter men's field. The USA Track & Field Invitational, formerly the Tyson Invitational, will be held on February 11, 2012 and will be the third stop of the VISA indoor series...more to come....

The 2012 U.S. Open, to be held in Madison Square Gardens will feature a tight schedule, going from 7 pm to 9.55 pm, on Saturday night, January 28, 2012. The meet features some great clashes for early season indoor track & field, and for the 2012 season as well! We encourage all to get tickets and visit the MSG ( you have to be at an indoor track & field meet to believe it). If you can not do that, then watch the US Open on TV (check your local listings). We humbly suggest that you check out the live coverage via twitter and our LIVE blog at www.runblogrun.com. The hashtag will be #USopenMSG! See you there!