Let’s face it. The U.S. now has about a dozen distance runners, on both men and women’s events, who can or soon will be able to duke it out with the best of them! Solinsky and Rupp both went under the U.S. former 10,000 meter record. I can think of four runners (Ritzenhein, Tegenkamp, Solinsky, Jager), who could go under the current AR for 5,000 meters and would not be entirely surprised to see another attempt at the AR for 10,000 meters this summer as well.
On the women’s side, my gut tells me that Shannon Rowbury will be running quite fast this summer, as will Jenny Barringer, Morgan Uceny, Anna Willard should be battling over 1,500 meters this year. I am also wondering just how fast Shalane Flanagan will go this summer!
It is an exciting time to be a fan of American distance running!
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.
