In other running news, the US 20K championships were held yesterday in New Haven, Connecticut. Sean Quigley and Lewy Boulet took the men's and women's titles respectively (congratulations to them), but I was especially excited to learn that Stephanie Rothstein, the second-place finisher in the women's race, was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and claimed that the move to a gluten-free diet was key to her recent running success. Since I went gluten-free this spring, I have had a very difficult time adjusting. I have had issues with iron, fatigue, and having enough energy for my runs. I thought that I might have to take it a bit easier on the running side, which I am not really mentally prepared to do. However, after finding out that a number of elite athletes (including Rothstein, Amy Yoder, and Austin's Desiree Ficker) have actually become better with the new diet, I am pretty hopeful that things will get better. And they actually have in recent months.
Blanka Vlasic takes the title of "photo of the week" (or month) with this glorious shot after claiming the world's best women's high jump this past Sunday. She even had the chance to do it in our home country in front of a friendly crowd. Needless to say, she was excited.
Finally, I have taken part in a few conversations with fellow runners over the following question: if Jim Ryun was a miler today instead of 40 years ago, would he dominate the competition? He remains the only person to run sub-4 in a high-school only competition, and he did it virtually on his own. Check out the video here. It's nothing short of incredible, as is the quality of that ancient video.
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