THE BROOKS BLOG

Seattle, Wash. – Patrick Rizzo placed second in the inaugural running of the Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Half-marathon. Rizzo completed the 13.1-mile course running the fastest time by an American on Washington state soil in a time of one hour, five minutes and 34 seconds.

More than 15,000 athletes competed in the half-marathon. Elija Nyabuti, of Kenya, won the men’s race in 1:05:14. Berhane Adere, of Ethiopia won the women’s half-marathon in 1:11:19.

The Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon and half-marathon are part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll series, which includes races in Pheonix, Ariz.; Nashville, Tenn.; San Diego, Cali.; San Jose, Cali.; Virginia Beach, Virg.; Chicago, Illi.; San Antonio, Texas; and Las Vegas, Neva. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon series includes scenic race courses and live music along the race routes.

Former Hansons-Brooks runners Nick Cordes and Leigh Daniel, now Brooks athletes, are racing three other couples to the altar on NBC’s “TODAY Throws a Wedding.”

You can help them win their dream wedding by voting for them: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30370935/. But hurry, voting ends Friday!

One online vote not enough to convey your best wishes for Nick and Leigh? Text the number 4 to 46833. Standard text messaging rates apply.

A quick recap of our very fun Run Happy® Place Promotion, which happily and successfully concluded on March 31, 2009.

There were 152,196 online entries in the running for a chance to win Brooks’ awesome Run Happy® Place—a Modern Cabana outfitted with treadmill, flat-screen HDTV, stereo system, and water cooler. And, while there were daily random prize winners of Brooks gear and other nifty schwag, only one person won the big enchilada.

Congratulations Barbara G., Jacksonville, FL, the Grand Prize Winner of our Run Happy® Place Promotion! We imagine she’s definitely running very happy these days.

Running shops and other U.S. specialty retailers who sell Brooks shoes and apparel were eligible to enter our Run Happy® Display Contest in March.

The Columbus Running Company of Columbus, OH, was named Grand Prize Winner for its video and song. Their prize? A brand-new treadmill for the store. Congratulations!

The Display Contest had two First Place Winners: Luke’s Locker of Plano, TX, pictured above; and Fleet Feet Nashville in Nashville, TN, pictured below. Each store won Tienkin II Jackets for everyone on its staff.

Finally, The Running Center of Tampa, FL, was the winner of the Bonus Code Retail Store Contest. A grand total of 66,656 store bonus codes were redeemed online. The Running Center led the way with 1,743 online bonus codes redemptions.

Congratulations to all for helping to spread the Run Happy® in March.

Thanks to everyone who entered our impromptu #Run_Happy® contest on Twitter yesterday. We asked runners to tell us “What Makes You Run Happy®?” The prize? A limited-edition Run Happy® Mesh Cap to the top four entries—as deemed by our panel of judges. As you will see, it was tough to pick just four. Congratulations to all of the winners! Each is definitely worth following on Twitter, as are we: @brooksrunning.

The Top 3 Vote-Winning Run Happy® Tweets (Winners 1-3):

@amlemus: #Run_Happy is finding peace on a 10 miler when your world is in chaos. That and eating pizza whenever I want.

@TheHappyRunner: #Run_Happy — Just getting outside and running hard, enjoying what my body is capable of, makes me happy!

@disneyrunner: I run because every stride I can take , like every breath and every day, is a gift not to be wasted

A 3-Way Tie for Run Happy® Tweet Winner 4:

@jeherv: when all the pain goes away and it’s just me and the street and that wonderful feeling of moving

@jboeve: #Run_Happy Running in the Dunes until I get lost. Running until I find my way back is one of the most empowering things I do.

@mitchmajeski: #Run_Happy “Lazy Me” lives on a path of least resistance. When I run, he loses & that makes me happy

A Trio of Run Happy® Tweet Honorable Mentions:

@ahanu: min or miles gritting your teeth in antic of moment all pain ebbs & reach perfect stride and u feel u can accomplish anything

@mudsweatbeers: The moment when feet that’ve been pounding in a slowly-building rhythm suddenly… disappear. Http://bit.ly/UV2EA

@npjohnson: I’m not giving birth this year so I decided to train for a half marathon.

Winners and Honorable Mentions need to send or DM me their name and shipping address. Your cap should arrive within 2-3 weeks (probably sooner).

Running her first steeplechase of the 2009 season, Amanda Lorenzen won the Drake Relays 3000m steeplechase. Her time of 10:06 was her fastest season opening time ever, despite the rainy and cold conditions in Des Moines this weekend. Lorenzen was 7th at the 2008 Olympic Trials in the 3000m steeplechase, and she will compete against some of the top women in the world at the adidas Track Classic in Carson, CA on May 16th. Lorenzen will have her sights set on the World Championships A Standard time of 9:40. Her PR of 9:48 was set last year at the Olympic Trials.

A post-race video interview with Amanda can be seen on Flotrack at the link below:

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/1305-amanda-lorenzen

Watch Brian Sell and five of his team members from the Hanson-Brooks Distance Project run the Boston Marathon now! See live national coverage streaming live on Universal Sports. Note: Use MSIE on PC or Safari on Mac OS X–Firefox is not happening.

Go Brian! Go Hansons!

Hansons-Brooks athlete, Ryan Sheehan, won the eighth annual Papa John’s 10-Miler Saturday morning in Louisville, Ky. Sheehan led the field of over 6500 runners, covering the 10-mile course in 48 minutes and 37 seconds.

Sheehan’s teammate, Nick Arciniaga, placed third in the road race with a time of 49 minutes eight seconds, just 15 seconds from the second place finisher, Tommy Neal of Colorado.
Sheehan, who led the race from the gun, was satisfied with his performance but still sees room for improvement.

“I would have liked to have run a little faster; I’m happy to have run under 49 (minutes) but was hoping to run 48:20.” Sheehan said.

The Papa John’s course, which finished inside of Papa John’s-Cardinal Stadium, had served as the United States Track and Field Men’s ten-mile Road Championship for four years, from 2003 through 2006. Although the race did not host the 2009 US ten-mile Championship, Papa John’s presented prize money to the first three male and first three female finishers.

For more information please contact David Jankowski at hansonsbrooks@gmail.com