2016 Women's and Men's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials to Be Hosted by the City of Los Angeles on February 13, 2016

Today USA Track & Field, the U.S. Olympic Committee, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and LA MARATHON LLC announced that the City of Los Angeles will host the Women’s and Men’s 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon.

The 2016 Olympic Trials will be held February 13, 2016. With separate starts, the men’s and women’s races both will be carried in their entirety on NBC. The 2016 Olympic Games will take place in Brazil.

In winning the bid, LA MARATHON LLC proposed a February race date that accommodates an NBC broadcast and ensures athletes optimal time to recover should they choose to run in the 2016 Olympic Trials for Track & Field in June.

Now for the other interesting news in the announcement...the LA Marathon will follow a day later, on February 14, 2016. For those of you who have followed the LA Marathon in the past, this should sound unusual to you. In the history of the LA Marathon going back to 1986, the LA Marathon has never been run (literally and figuratively) in February. In all years with the exception of 2009 (when the marathon took place in late May), the LA Marathon took place in March.

Start times and specifics on the criterium courses for both the men’s and women’s races will be determined in coming months

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the country’s #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States. For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org.

LA MARATHON LLC is a leading U.S. running organization dedicated to inspiring the athlete in every runner and connecting communities through health and fitness.  The LA Marathon is among the largest marathons in the country with more than 25,000 participants, thousands of volunteers and hundreds of thousands of spectators. The “Stadium to the Sea” course, starting at Dodger Stadium and finishing near the Santa Monica Pier, is one of the most scenic in the world, taking runners on a tour of Los Angeles past every major landmark. The race has been named Best Big City Race by Runner’s World.

2012 Boston Marathon Organizers Urging Caution on Monday Due to Extreme Heat

If you've been reading this blog you would know I signed up for the Boston Marathon but due to an eye surgery lost 5 1/2 weeks of training and thus opted to skip the marathon. My surgery was 2/6 and I started running again on 3/18.

Today I received the following email (excerpted below) from Boston Marathon organizers. WOW! I've NEVER seen this before. Race organizers telling runners literally "YOU SHOULD NOT RUN." They are definitely urging caution due to projected heat going into the mid to high 80s with 50% humidity.

Glad I'm not going! I strongly dislike running in heat and doubly so adding in humidity. Sounds miserable! And the race doesn't start until 10 a.m. Uggh. Well good luck to all that ARE running! Stay cool and hydrated! Thanks Phill for picking up my Boston Marathon race shirt!

Organizers take what may be an unprecedented (I haven't

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