Sports Illustrated: Perhaps Toby Tanser Got It Wrong

Olympic Marathon Silver Medalist Eunice Kirwa Busted for EPO Doping, Provisionally Suspended
Chris Chavez/Sports Illustrated May 21, 2019

Olympic silver medalist Eunice Kirwa of Bahrain has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for EPO, a blood-boosting drug. Kirwa finished second in the women's marathon in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro behind Kenya's Jemima Sumgong.

Sumgong is currently serving an eight-year suspension after she tested positive for EPO in 2017. She was initially banned for four years but appealed the suspension and then lied at her doping hearing. An independent arbiter determined she provided false records of a hospital visit to try and justify her failed drug test. Since the positive test came after the Olympics, she will hold onto her gold medal from the 2016 Summer Games but cannot compete again until 2027. She made history with her victory in Rio by becoming the first Kenyan woman to win the Olympic marathon.

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NY Times - I Wanna Be Accelerated...

Nike Says Its $250 Running Shoes Will Make You Run Much Faster. What if That’s Actually True?//Kevin Quealy and Josh Katz, New York Times, 18 July 2018

If a running shoe made you 25 percent faster, would it be fair to wear it in a race? What about 10 percent? Or 2 percent? The Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4% — a bouncy, expensive shoe released to the public one year ago — raises these questions like no shoe in recent distance running history.Nike says the shoes are about 4 percent better than some of its best racing shoes, as measured by how much energy runners spend when running in them. That is an astonishing claim, an efficiency improvement worth almost six minutes to a three-hour marathoner, or about eight minutes to a four-hour marathoner.And it may be an accurate one, according to a new analysis by The New York Times of race data from about 500,000 marathon and half marathon running times since 2014...

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Active.com: Rule #1: Qualify

The Golden Rules of the Boston Marathon
Megan Harrington/Active.com

It’s that time of year again; the temperature is rising, flowers are blooming and thousands of runners are gearing up to run the Boston marathon. With a rich history and a famous course, it’s on many runners’ bucket lists. But to run a smart race, preparation is key. If you’ve been lucky enough to earn a spot in this year’s race (or someday hope to qualify) this is for you...

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