Here's a roundup of some recent running I don't believe has been discussed:
1). At the Loughborough meet in England, Martyn Rooney split 44.7 on a 4x400 relay leg. Every time he's run this year has been excellent.
2) Also at Loughborough, Andy Pozzi continued to dominate the hurdles. And Hannah England started her season with an effortless 2:02 800m victory.
3) At the Manchester BMC meet, Ross Murray, the young, long-injured British runner known primarily for his sense of humor, annihilated the field despite bad running conditions and having an untied shoelace. Afterwards, he gave a typically funny interview.
4) At the same meet, I was also impressed by the even younger British teen phenom, Jessica Judd, going 4:09 in the 1500.
5) What makes the above times especially noteworthy is that the weather has been and continues to be cold in Britain (watch the race videos at athleticos or flotrack and you'll see all of the spectators in heavy winter coats). None of these athletes have even had an opportunity to do speed work yet.
6) In the US, the buzz has all been the amazing Oxy meet for mid-distance runners. Frankly, there were way too many amazing performances to mention. Suffice it to say that we are developing incredibly deep fields in all of the mid-d events, and the times were superb in the 1500, for example.
7) Some highlights from that meet: Princeton's Donn Cabral smashed the American collegiate record in the Steeple. Evan Jager, running only his second steeple, once again showed his incredible talent; he was running away with the race when he fell, face-first on the last jump. He still got up and ran a great time, easily under the Olympic A standard. In the 1500, Galen Rupp surprised everyone with his 3:34 speed (remember, he's a 5k/10k guy). Two other major surprises, were the 800m guys, Robby Andrews and Nick Symmonds. Andrews nearly won his stacked 1500 heat in 3:34 and Symmonds ran a nearly as impressive 3:36. These are fantastic early-season times for a couple of 800 guys running a longer distance. Alan Webb continued to make progress with his comeback (3:37--he's getting there). And finally Dathan Ritzenhein, who has been injured forever, finally ran again, producing a solid 13:54 5k, despite wearing marathon flats rather than racing spikes.
And that's the news.