Millrose Mutterings

Millrose talk is running far and wide. Many are excited about coming or watching on YouTube, but one notable athlete has informed The Armory that she will not be among the competitors.

"Kip (Lagat), Stephen and Lawi are all training really well, doing some of the best workouts I have seen them do. They are all very excited about coming to New York to run the 5,000 meters at Millrose." — University of Arizona Associate Coach James Li.

"We're doing a lot of strength work. Our track stuff is more mechanical, just to get a feel for the paces so you can go out and compete well indoors. I'm just looking at it (the Millrose 5000) more as an opportunity to get into a really good field and compete against some really good athletes and prepare myself to keep doing that the whole year and compete at these guys at NCAAs." — Stanford runner Chris Derrick.

"I am grateful to The Armory Foundation for the opportunity to compete at the 2012 Millrose Games, unfortunately due to conflicting dates, I have decided that it will be best for me to compete at the Tyson Invitational, which happens to be taking place on the same day." — Allyson Felix in a statement to Millrose Meet Director Ray Flynn. Felix was previously scheduled to run in the 60-meter dash at Millrose.

"I’m going into the Millrose Games focusing on just racing against the women and racing to the line, and being aggressive—like I’m sure all of them will be. And if the time comes along with that, then that’d be really exciting, but it will just be an amazing experience to go out and race. I’ll be excited to get a fast time, but that comes with good races that are very competitive, so we’ll see what happens (laughs)." — Stony Brook star Lucy Van Dalen

"I definitely would expect there would be a separation (at Millrose). I would kind of think more in the last mile or so, or maybe 2k. I've heard they want the rabbits to be about 8:00 at 3k and then maybe close hard, but I'm not really sure; that could be bad information. I feel comfortable enough in my own abilities to make a decision in the middle of the race and figure where I can settle and go from there." — Derrick.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for Arizona track and field to compete on the national stage. Stephen Sambu and Lawi Lalang train with the nation's best every day in Bernard Lagat. This is a great chance to run against other highly competitive collegians and professional athletes." — University of Arizona Coach Fred Harvey.

"The Millrose Games are close to my heart for obvious reasons. My success in the Millrose Games has been the making of Eamonn Coghlan. Not a week goes by when someone doesn't say something to me about winning the Wanamaker Mile." — Eamonn Coghlan.

"Big thumbs up to Millrose for picking YouTube (the online giant where there is marketing potential) and big thumbs up for them realizing the archival reach of YouTube after the fact." — Weldon Johnson of LetsRun.com.