Photo of the Weekend: Pre Classic

Photo of the Weekend was a tight contest this week, what with all the great meets going on here and abroad. But surprise, surprise, we head up to Eugene, Oregon and the Pre Classic for this week's winner:

This is just a strange-looking photo. From the body position, to the look on this gentleman's face. Rarrrr!

So, a doff of the cap to Errol Anderson for capturing this gem. (Photos via TrackShark.com)

Anderson also photographed our runner-up, which can be seen below:

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What They Didn't Tell You: Pre Classic

Pre Weekend, which also had action someplace in Europe, plus the Boston High Performance Meet and the Saturn Grand Championships or something like that. Shall we?

First off, what they didn't tell you is NOT that I cleaned up in the Pick-N-Win contest. In fact, I've been downright insufferable about that. I'm sorry. I will stop now. I promise.

What they didn't tell you this weekend during the Pre telecast is that, up in Eugene, there is this place called Pre's Rock... Wait, that was also a thing that they didn't not tell you.

Luke Puskedra -- a HS runner -- got to run the 2-mile at Pre in attempt to break Jeff Nelson's National Prep record... and ended up dead last and a half a minute back from the winners. He tried his best, and he failed miserably. The lesson is, Don't try.

There was a Saturn Meet this weekend, but what they didn't tell you was what the time adjustment for altitude is on Saturn. Thanks, I'll show myself out now.

Bislett was late last week, and what they may not have told you is that, frankly, it got housed by the Pre Meet in terms of quality. I mean, the so-called "Dream Mile" was won by a British guy. Ooooooh, wait! Now I get it! "Dream Mile"....

Finally, what they didn't tell you was that we've got something of an announcement coming later this week. Stay tuned.

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LTOB "USATF Pick-N-Win Contest" Contest Results: Pre

Drumroll, please....

Who's now tied for 35th Overall in the USATF Pick-N-Win contest? JEREMY'S now tied for 35th Overall in the USATF Pick-N-Win contest, that's who.

I overcame goose-eggs in 3 events by picking 12 events correctly, thus managing my highest point total for the season, and my highest overall finish in the USATF contest. As a result of my recent tear, yet another person didn't even bother to enter picks, faced with the hopelessness of trying to surmount me. (hehehe.... "mount me"...)

Here are the full results:

PTS - (USATF PLACE) - NAME - (Season-long USATF place)
153 ( 25) - Giving Less (again) (35)
144 ( 62) - Running Down a Dream
141 ( 73) - Hutch-in-the-Clutch
133 (135) - Four Toes (79)
127 (196) - LessThanOurBest.com
123 (231) - Sulphur Springs
121 (252) - Optimal Training
n/a (n/a) - Columbia, SC Runner
n/a (n/a) - Simon Says
96 (569) - Predicted Winners

Kudos to Katie for jumping into the Top 100, overall in the season-long standings at USATF. I have to look at Hutch-in-the-Marc-Jacobs-Clutch and wonder what could have been, had he played the game from the start...

Just one meet the go: the grand-daddy of the mall! Questions abound: will my head get any bigger? Will Predicted Winners get back on the right side of "100" and out of the place-of-shame behind the non-starters? Will more people get bored and quit? Check back at the end of June to find out!

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Fearless Predictions: Prefontaine? Never Heard of 'im. Edition

Less Than Our Best is concerned with very little. One of those few interests is how a man can look cool dancing. The other is acting like we have some expertise in predicting things. Here's a few things that will LITERALLY happen this weekend:

This weekend we get to revel in all the glory that is Steve Prefontaine. For a change. That is, unless you've ever walked into a running store, own Nike shoes, or have seen the back of a high school cross country team's t-shirt.

With any luck we will hear announcers like Larry Rawson wax poetic about how tough 'ol "Pre" was and that opponents would have to bleed to beat him (must have been a weird site to have three runners covered in blood on that medal stand in '72, HEY-YO!), and of course how he never gave anything less than his best. It's like the Thanksgiving Day parade for all that is douchey about distance running, and Nike is Macy's. And the drum major that leads the parade. And Santa Claus at the end. And Matt Lauer trying to act like the damn thing is exciting to experience.

Luckily, there are some good races to watch as well, if I don't throw the remote through the television.



BISLETT GAMES

1) Jeremy Wariner exorcises some demons in the 400 by breaking Michael Johnson's meet record (43.86) and totally dominates the last 100 meters of the race. It's not a suprise that Wariner bounces back so well here. After all, he did once lose to this guy just three weeks before he won the World Championship gold in 2005, and that guy is British and WHITE! Talk about embarassing.

PREFONTAINE CLASSIC

1) After a strong start to the day, my fantasy team goes 2 for 2 (Bekele and Defar) and then quietly slinks into the bottom half of the rankings. Former champs "Katie" and "Jeremy" get humbled into 3rd and 4th place while the jolly ginger "Jesse" jukes and jives his way to a much deserved victory, narrowly pulling away from "Bryan" who proceeds to generate conspiracy theory rumors against us via his far more respected (and viewed) blog optimal training. As for "Hutch"? Poor guy never had a chance...

***Wanna get in on the "fun," enter the LTOB fantasy track contest and win a flippin' prize!***

2) Let's go through the rest of these event by event:

M400 - LaShawn Merritt wins and runs .04 seconds faster than Wariner does at Bislett. Wariner, after watching via live web feed, goes out on the town in Bislett and drunk dials Clyde Hart, sloppily begs Hart to take him back.

M800 - Canadian Gary Reed gets out kicked first by Khadevis Robinson and then by Nick Symmonds in the last 50 meters. Canadian athletes go on strike. No one notices. Except the Versus network.

M1Mile - Komen wins. More importantly, Lopez Lomong beats Alan Webb to get second. It doesn't matter though, Webb "still working on his base, has yet to do speedwork." (that quote guaranteed to be uttered during press conference)

M2Mile - Shaheen, Mottram, Ramzi, Lagat, Solinsky, Koech. That is the order they will finish Sunday....backwards. Did I just blow your mind?

M10000 - Bekele is off record pace by 6000 meters. Wins in 26:55. Complains there was too much wind. If only there were a time of day that was cool and usually windless... Abdi runs 27:45, says he's just wanted to get his Olympic A standard.

W800 - Shannon Rowbury w...i...I just can't quite do it. Mutola wins for the 53rd straight time and performs requisite 'suck it' gesture. Rowbury finishes 2nd unfortunately. She'll have her day.

W5000 - Kara Goucher runs 14:51, begins to hate Shalane Flanagan.

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Fantasy Track 3: Prefontaine Classic

We complete the trilogy of "regular season" fantasy track with the Prefontaine Classic this weekend. Without a doubt, the end of this trilogy will be more Return of the King and less Godfather 3Of course, we can't escape the possibility of a Back to the Future 3 scenerio.

The rules are simple: CLICK HERE, sign up (if you haven't already), make your picks (once they are posted), then put your team name and your best trash talk in the comments below. If you win, we will send a flippin' sweet-azz prize to you via USPS. If you lose, we will mock your lack of knowledge and make fun of your PR's. Just like in non-fantasy track!

So get started. And while your making your picks, remember: To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.

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Rating the Meats

That's Easy:
1. Steak
2. Chicken
3. Sausage
4. Bolgna
5. Turkey

Now that that's out of the way, why don't we rate some TRACK meEts?

As you may or may not have heard by now, Keninisa Bekele has signed on to make an attempt at his 10,000 meter world record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on June 8. This coming on the heels of the Reebok Grand Prix's announcement that the world's top two sprinters, Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay (that's right I said it Asafa, what are you gonna do about it?), will face each other over 100 meters. Along with that, Adidas has set up a great field for their Adidas Track Classic this coming Sunday.

Undoubtedly, the three best track events in America leading up to tha' Grandaddy of all American track events: the trials.

With these four meets, Nike, Reebok, Adidas, and Nike USATF seem dedicated to putting on top quality track and field meets. Let's have a look how each meet stacks up, shall we...


Here's how the ratings work:

No Stars = Is this a professional track meet or a 7th grade pizza party?!
* = 3 out of 4 LRC message boarders will bitch about
** = Runnerville will have suggestions
*** = Mary Wittenberg would/has approved
**** = "boners galore"

1) Geographic Location
Nike Pre - Eugene ***
Reebok - New York City ****
Adidas - Carson, CA **
Trials - Eugene ***

Eugene as a city, like it or not, is the only town willing to put all their eggs in the track and field basket, and that is commendable in its own right. Even if its not an especially visible town nationwide. NYC is simply the media capital of the world, though, and will always generate a large crowd and, most especially, media hype. Carson is 22 minutes from LA according to my google maps, which doesn't seem that long I suppose, but as far as I'm concerned, ain't nothing in LA but rich hippies and people who are perpetually 3 hours behind me, no one I want at one of my track meets.

2) Venue
Nike Pre - Historic Hayward Field ***
Reebok - Icahn Stadium **
Adidas - Home Depot Center No Stars
Trials - Historic Hayward Field ***

Once again, like the Nike/Eugene marriage or not, what they have invested in track and field and Hayward field looks pretty cool right now. They updated things that needed to be updated but, as far as I can tell, didn't sacrifice too much of the authenticity. Although, putting "Historic Hayward Field" on the new jumbo-tron seems a bit forced. Icahn Stadium is cool, on an island and all, but it's impossible to get to without a car, and who wants to drive in NYC? The Home Depot is a boring store filled with employees that clearly don't want to help me out with my bundle of 4x4's. I don't understand why they are trying to hold a track meet in that kind of environment.

3) Website
Nike Pre - No Stars
Reebok - **
Adidas - ***
Trials - ****

The Pre website looks like my 15 year old cousin's geocities site. Reebok and Adidas are about the same, but Adidas has had a time schedule and starting lists posted for a while now and Reebok has NO updates. The Eugene08 website is top-notch, as it should be.

4) Marquee Race/Time Trial
Nike Pre - Bekele going for 10,000m WR, Meseret Defar going for 5,000m WR ***
Reebok - Usain Bolt v. Tyson Gay in 100m ****
Adidas - 7 of world's top 10 women in 100m No Stars
Trials - Every. American. Ever. ****

Two world record attempts at Pre is pretty impressive but, quite frankly, this smacks of little more than a publicity stunt. Count me as "doubtful" as to whether or not Bekele is actually ready and seriously going for a record or did the Pre folks promise him a free trip see "pre's rock"? Bolt v. Gay is HUGE. I wouldn't mind if Asafa Powell totally dropped off the radar. Bolt and Gay obviously aren't afraid of a challenge. Powell? Shaking. Boots. Adidas has a number of strong races and an overall great field, but no real "matchup" to speak of.

5) Ability to avoid attempts at squeezing any remaining juice from the already dry, shriveled up fruit that is a former track athlete's "legacy.," to the point where a track fan almost definitely resents said athlete.
Nike Pre - Negative Eleventy Billion Stars
Reebok - ****
Adidas - ****
Trials - Jury Still Out

Note to Nike/Lanana/Eugene08: please stop pimpin' Steve so hard. He's not going to be able to carry your company University's mystique forever. His abnormally broad, German shoulders are only so strong.

6) Overall
Nike Pre - *
Reebok - ***
Adidas - **
Trials - ****(times 1 million boners)

This could easily change after the fields fill out.

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