ROAD TRACK TRAIL

I spent months working in labs experimenting on early versions of super shoes. In this story, I dig into my own experiences as a researcher, explain how they are created, and how they can make you fast.

We tallied every official World Athletics world record-breaking performance of the year. WRs were have been set in 22 events this year between sprinting, running, field, and speed walking events, with 16 in the sprinting and running events alone.

We covered Josh Kerr, Sebastian Sawe, and Rachel Entrekin last week. What are the other biggest stories of the year so far?

Jennifer Lichter and Vincent Bouillard set record times at Western States, the premier 100-mile ultra marathon in the US.

Tigst Assefa runs 2:15:41 women’s-only race marathon WR. Women’s road racing has two WRs, one for women’s only races, one for mixed-sex races in which the women sometimes use men in the race as rabbits, enabling potentially faster times. She’ll chase the mixed-sex WR this weekend in Berlin.

Jenny Simpson, Olympic 1500m medalist, goes into cardiac arrest and after recovering, announces her retirement. "My future is an incredible gift. It's hopeful, and it will continue to have great purpose," Simpson wrote. "But my diagnosis also means it would be dangerous for me to return to running.”

Cooper Lutkenhaus wins the 800m US Championship at age 17. He’s just starting his senior year of high school.

Half marathon WR was broken and then broken again several months later–the WR held by Yomif Kejelcha was broken by Jacob Kiplimo in March, only to be reclaimed by Kejelcha in 56:51 in August.

“Cross Country Town USA” Indiana State puts $2 million into the venue that will host this year’s D1 Cross Country championships. It’s neat to see a university invest so much into XC.

After North Carolina Mallard Creek High School lost the boys’ 8A state championship on a highly controversial 4x400 disqualification for celebrating before the finish line, Mallard Creek will be recognized as co-winners of both the boys’ 4x4 relay and the boys’ state championship.

The Asian Games’ is lodging thousands of athletes in a cruise ship. You heard that right. The Asian Games, roughly the Asian continent equivelant to the Olympics, is being hosted in Nagoya, Japan right now through October. 17,000 athletes are being given lodging on either a “parked” cruise ship or temporary wooden structures. Probably not ideal.

A man is killed by lightning last week in Florida while running. The 20-year-old runner was out during a storm. Be safe out there.

Agnes Ngetich breaks women’s-only half marathon record by one second at the Road Running Championships in Denmark last week.

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RunHome team