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Runner Suzy Favor Hamilton has appeared in three Summer Olympics (1992, 1996, 2000) and was a very accomplished runner during her professional career.

In the past year, Suzy has found favor as a high-end Las Vegas call girl for Haley Heston’s Private Collection bringing in $600 a hour for her work according to The Smoking Gun.

Beginning last December, Suzy Favor Hamilton, 44, has worked with one of Las Vegas’s premier escort services, booking scores of “dates” in Sin City and other U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston.

While Favor Hamilton (seen at right) has used an alias, “Kelly Lundy,” when working as an escort, she inexplicably shared her true identity with several male clients, believing that her secret was somehow safe with strangers who paid for her company by leaving envelopes stuffed with cash on bathroom vanities in swanky hotels.

When approached by a reporter earlier this month in the lobby of a Las Vegas hotel, Favor Hamilton initially denied any connection with the escort service, Haley Heston’s Private Collection. But Favor Hamilton–who is married to her college sweetheart, a lawyer, and is the mother of a seven-year-old girl–eventually acknowledged her work as “Kelly.”

“I take full responsibility for my mistakes. I’m not the victim and I’m not going that route,” Favor Hamilton said. “I’m owning up to what I did. I would not blame anybody except myself.” She added, “Everybody in this world makes mistakes. I made a huge mistake. Huge.”

She held the U.S. record for the 1000m, had five sub-4 minute 1500’s, won a bronze at the Goodwill Games in 1998, and was the #1 U.S. female runner from 1989-2002.  Hamilton is one of the most famous mid-distance runners of the past twenty-five years.

Hamilton wasn’t per se desperate for cash but moreso for attention as she has a successful career post racing.

Favor Hamilton described the escort business as “exciting,” an illicit midlife diversion from her routine existence, one in which she operates a successful Madison, Wisconsin real estate brokerage with her husband, delivers motivational speeches, and does promotional work for various businesses and groups, including Disney’s running series and Wisconsin’s Potato & Vegetable Growers Association.

Hamilton’s husband, Mark, was aware of Suzy’s escorting but couldn’t persuade her to stop according to TSG.

Before this scandal, she was most famous for intentionally falling during the 2000 Olympics when she lost the lead with less than 200 meters to go, embarrassed because she wouldn’t be medaling.

Additionally, she told reporter Gary D’Amato how her brother Dan committed suicide in 1999, a year before she ran for the gold medal in the 1500-meter final at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium. She led that race with 200 meters to go, but when other competitors began to pass her, Favor Hamilton recalled, she intentionally tumbled to the track, ashamed that she could not medal in honor of her late sibling.

Hamilton seems to be accepting responsibility now that the story is out and doesn’t want to seek revenge on the john that she suspects outed her:

Referring to a client she suspected of contacting a reporter, Favor Hamilton said, “He totally broke all the rules by outing me.” But she stressed that returning fire was not her style. “I don’t want to be like him. Because he is scum. And I will not become scum to make myself feel good,” Favor Hamilton said. “I will not do it. I would suffer rather than go that route of being vindictive.”

One client offered The Smoking Gun money to keep the story from going public. He wrote this review of her services on the escort site:

In a July 2012 online review, the client–who recounted two separate encounters with “Kelly”–enthused, “She is worth every penny. I will go bankrupt before I stop seeing her. I hope no one else goes to see her, because I want her all to myself.” He added, “I never thought I would find anyone in this hobby like her.”

Suzy Favor Hamilton has had an interesting life for sure. This story was not exactly what every runner was expecting to come across when sipping on their coffee this morning, but it shows that runners are real people with real issues that sometimes make mistakes that we later regret.

Suzy Favor Hamilton/Kelly’s Escort Rates

• $600 Hour
• $1000 Two Hours
• $500 Additional Hour
• $1500 Couples Hour
• $4000 Overnight – 12 Hours
• $8000 Overnight – 24 Hours

And who said runners were boring?

More Photos of ‘Kelly’ Favor Hamiton

The big scandal involving General David Petraeus and his biographer Paula Broadwell has consumed most of the cable airwaves and news headlines over the past week.  At the heart of the story is the affair that Petraeus and Broadwell shared together.

Broadwell wanted to write her book on Petraeus but she needed access. She heard he was an avid runner and asked the General if she could run with him.  So the two of them met at the Pentagon in D.C. and went off for a run together.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Here is how Paula described it during a speech at the University of Denver back in October:

Our first interview in person was on a run. And I had proposed this because I knew it was a rite of passage for many of his former aids, to kind of get in the inner circle you had to be a runner.

Well I had run in high school, I had run in college, I had been a sponsored triathlete when we lived here in Colorado, so I loved physical fitness, but I didn’t think he knew anything about me in that regard.

So, we went for a run. We started at the Pentagon, and I had my recorder. I thought if I asked him questions that he had to give lengthy answers to, he would be more winded than I was. But he was smarter than I was — he’d say yes or no or he’d just asked a question in return or say “that’s classified, next.”

Anyhow, at some point at about mile three or four, he started to pick up the pace. And I knew this was coming. I call it the “boiling frog approach,” because you don’t know that the water is getting hotter and hotter. In any case I realized what was going on and I decided to shut off the recorder and race him.

And I was told never to beat him.  Keep up with him and you earn… it’s the rite of passage. But don’t beat him because he’s a guy, you’re a girl, and he’s a celebrity, and you’re a soccer mom.

In any case, he started elbowing me and it was over.

Long story short, I did beat him. We got down to six-minute mile pace, and I later found out that he was going through radiation treatment for prostate cancer, so it didn’t really count. But it was a rite of passage and a great sort of rapport builder with him.

It sounds like both Petraeus and Broadwell are in excellent shape if they were going head-to-head putting down a 6-minute/mile pace.  And hats off to Broadwell if she was a sponsored tri-athlete in Colorado.

Who knows exactly when or where their affair actually commenced (reports say 2011 after he left the Army), but I’m sure there was no turning back once he started elbowing her.

Broadwell’s words should become the confirmation quote from now on when one is caught with his or her running shorts down, “He started elbowing me and it was over.”

Knockin’ elbows is the new ‘Knockin’ Boots!’

Comediactor Will Ferrell ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Los Angeles Halloween Half Marathon sporting a Ron Burgundy (Anchorman) mustache and a ‘Funny or Die’ shirt on October 28, 2012.

So what was his time?

Ferrell finished the 13.1 mile race in a time of 2:03:50

Other celebrities that took part and their times:

• Andy Baldwin – 1:35:30 (The Bachelor)
• Andrea Barber – 3:02:33 (actress Full House)
• Eric Nenninger – 2:25:15 (actor Jeepers Creepers II, Malcolm In the Middle)
• Brandon Jenner – 3:02:17 (actor The Princes of Malibu, son of Bruce Jenner and Linda Thompson)

Congrats to not just the celebs but to all of the runners who took part in the RNR L.A. Halloween Half Marathon.

Pasadena’s Peter Magill, running his first half marathon at the age of 51, set the U.S. single age group record with a time of 1:10:19.

[source: Competitor]

Lance Armstrong had a very bad day. He was given the pink slip nearly half a dozen times TODAY!

The day started with news that Armstrong was stepping down as the chairman of Livestrong, the charity he created in the wake of his cancer survival and Tour de France success, to raise money to fight cancer.

“This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart,” the cancer survivor said in a statement. “Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship.”

The Livestrong news came as a package deal with the major announcement from Nike that they were terminating their endorsement contract with Armstrong

“Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him,” the company said in a statement. “Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs in any manner. Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.”

After that the endorsement dominoes fell one after another starting with Anheuser-Busch announcing they wouldn’t renew their deal with Armstrong.

“We will not renew our relationship with Lance Armstrong when current contract expires”

This was followed by Trek, Giro Helmets, Honey Stinger, and 24 Hour Fitness all announcing they were severing ties with the troubled cyclist.

The sponsors are all jumping ship in wake of the insurmountable pile of evidence that Armstrong doped and cheating in winning his seven Tour de France championships.

The Chicago Marathon has denied a request from 7-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to run there in October.

The decision comes after a USADA ruling that stated Armstrong was guilty of using performance enhancing drugs for the past decade.

The USADA has stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour de France championships and banned him from all sports according to Runner’s World.

The road running community has been waiting to see if USA Track & Field, the national governing body for the sport, would enforce the ban on Armstrong. As a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency code, USATF is bound to enforce rulings by WADA and USADA.

The ban in other sports such as road running and triathlon has not been popular.

“It seems a little over the top to pursue him beyond the cycling arena to me,” said John Conley, whose company owns and operates the Livestrong Austin Marathon and Half Marathon.

Do you agree with the decision of the Chicago Marathon to keep Lance Armstrong out of their race?

Do you believe Armstrong used blood doping or performance enhancing drugs during the marathons he’s run over the past few years?

Runner’s World earlier today delved into the claim that Republican Vice President nominee Paul Ryan had run a sub-3 hour marathon.

Ryan made the claim to Hugh Hewitt in a radio interview that:

“Yeah, I hurt a disc in my back, so I don’t run marathons anymore. I just run ten miles or less.” When Hewitt asked Ryan what his personal best is, Ryan replied, “Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something.”

WOW! Sub 3-hour marathon is really fast. Could we have a true Run It Fast VP? Well Runner’s World dug into the records of the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota where Ryan ran his only marathon.

The only results they could find where for a Paul D. Ryan, 20-years of old, from 1990. The time that ‘Paul D. Ryan’ ran that day? 4:01:25!

That’s not even sub-4 hour. Maybe Ryan was claiming 4:01:25 was his Eastern time zone finish and that since the race was in Minnesota it should be converted to 3:01:25 which is close to a sub-3 hour.

So what did Rep. Paul Ryan say when asked about the huge discrepancy?

“The race was more than 20 years ago, but my brother Tobin—who ran Boston last year—reminds me that he is the owner of the fastest marathon in the family and has never himself ran a sub-three. If I were to do any rounding, it would certainly be to four hours, not three. He gave me a good ribbing over this at dinner tonight.”

If I had run just one marathon and if it had been twenty years ago I’m not sure I would get my time right either, but I do believe I’d at least be in the right zip code.

Although it might be easy to ridicule Ryan over the flub, he should be praised for continuing to lead a healthy lifestyle. Reports have it that Ryan leads several other House members in P90X workouts most mornings before clocking in for work.

So how does Ryan’s marathon time stack up with other politicians over the years?

1. John Edwards – 3:30:18 (Marine Corps Marathon 1983)
2. Michael Dukakis – 3:31:00 (Boston Marathon 1951)
3. George Bush – 3:44:22 (Houston Marathon 1993)
4. Sarah Palin – 3:59:36 (Humpy’s Marathon 2005)
5. Paul Ryan – 4:01:25 (Grandma’s Marathon 1990)
6. Mike Huckabee – 4:37:29 (Marine Corps Marathon 2005)
7. Bill Frist – 4:54:36 (Marine Corps Marathon 1997)
8. Al Gore – 4:58:25 (Marine Corps Marathon 1997)
9. Tom Vilsack – 5:28:39 (Little Rock Marathon 2005)

Maybe one day we’ll have a highly elected official that has truly run a sub-3 hour marathon.

[source: Runner’s World and Wikipedia]

I was innocently scrolling my Twitter feed moments ago when I saw a Tweet from Lance Armstrong mentioning Run It Fast Club Member Tim Dockery (RIF #42) nailing it.

So I went to Tim’s Facebook page and saw that it was indeed longtime friend and RIF member of the same name, Tim Dockery.

The post on Opposing Views is titled, ‘USADA’s Travis Tygart Plays Prosecutor, Jury and Judge in Lance Armstrong Case‘ (FULL STORY)

The title of the article doesn’t hide much but here is a couple of excerpts from the well written piece.

Imagine walking into a courtroom as the defendant in a lawsuit. The prosecuting attorney reads the charges against you citing nothing more than the testimony of anonymous witnesses as evidence. You object, claiming this is unjust! To your surprise the prosecutor walks to the judge’s bench, puts on a judge’s robe and denies your motion. The prosecutor, still wearing his judge’s robe, then takes out his cell phone and calls three of his friends to serve on your “independent” jury.

No, despite the officially sounding name, it turns out the “United States Anti-doping Agency is not a part of the federal government. Although it receives almost 90 percent of its funding from the federal grants, the USADA is a government program masquerading as a non-profit organization. This non-profit status allows it to investigate and prosecute athletes without affording them the constitutional and due process protections required of other federal agencies. This status also allows it to prosecute athletes with a lower burden of proof than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard that would have been required in the previous investigation by the USDOJ. Finally, it allows a situation where the same man, Mr. Travis T. Tygart is allowed to serve as Prosecutor, Jury and Judge in the investigation of Lance Armstrong.

Dockery in concluding:

Do I think Mr. Tygart has some kind of personal vendetta against Lance? My personal opinion is yes, but I also think actions sometime speak louder than words. The 2012 London Olympic Games are a little more than a month away. Mr. Tygart and his staff are responsible for testing all US athletes headed to the games. However, he has chosen to use the majority of his offices resources investigating whether a retired cyclist doped 16 years ago.

The investigation and sanctioning process at the USADA is unconscionable. The partiality of the prosecutor, the lack of due process for the accused, and the lack of an independent fact finder are completely at odds with our American system of justice and fairness.

Take the time to read Tim’s full analysis of Tygart’s actions against Armstrong.

(Read Dockery’s full story HERE).

The autopsy that was performed on ultramarathon runner Micah ‘Caballo Blanco’ True after his death has revealed that he died from heart disease.

While medical examiners couldn’t point to the cause of the heart disease, they said True’s left ventricle, which pumps oxygenated blood to the rest of the body, had become thick and was dilated.

Chemical tests showed that True was mildly dehydrated and had caffeine in his system. He also had some abrasions on his elbows, forearms, knees and shins.

True, a legendary type of character made famous in the book Born To Run, disappeared in the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico back in March. He was missing for several days before his body was found on March 31st.

May Caballo Rest In Peace!

Rock superstar Sheryl Crow ran the 2012 St. Jude Country Music Half Marathon on Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee.

The weather was hot and the hills relentless, but it didn’t stop Crow from running an impressive 1:59:10.

Crow ran with bib #15465 which was registered to a Lisa Martin, a 51-year old from Franklin, TN.

Sheryl ran the half marathon to help raise money for the New Hope Academy which is a Christ-centered private school in Franklin, TN.  Crow has two adopted sons.  She ran with her ‘Run Baby Run’ team.

[images: Sheryl Crow, The Tennessean, Competitor Group, Lester Cacho/AP]