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By Sarah Spain

A couple of Saturdays ago, while you were watching college football or out buying a Christmas tree, 24-year-old Kelcey Harrison was running the last 20 miles of a 3,500-mile "jog" from Times Square to her hometown of San Francisco. Harrison, who graduated from Harvard, where she played soccer, is young, healthy and motivated. By the time she completed The Great Lung Run, she had logged 30 miles nearly every day for four months straight.

Harrison ran because she can. And because her lifelong friend Jill Costello — who was also once young and healthy and motivated — cannot.

On June 6, 2009, Costello, then a junior at Cal and a member of the crew team, was diagnosed with lung cancer. The disease was already at stage 4 and had spread; she was given about a year to live. Costello spent that year finishing school, earning Pac-10 Athlete of the Year honors, acting as vice president of the Panhellenic Council and doing tireless work for lung cancer charities — all while undergoing chemotherapy.

In May 2010, doctors told Costello she could not be cured; all they could do was try to make her last few weeks more comfortable. In those last weeks she walked across the stage at graduation (with a 4.0 GPA) and helped Cal to a second-place finish at the NCAA crew championships.

"Jill was really strong," Harrison said. "She was really confident that she was gonna be the one to beat stage 4 lung cancer. She was very convincing in her argument; even at the very end we really believed she was going to be the miracle."

Costello died June 24, 2010.

Natalie Coughlin’s trip to Rwanda provides firsthand insight

No. 1 Killer
A young, vibrant nonsmoker, Costello was the last person anyone would expect to get lung cancer. But 20 percent of the more than 20,000 women diagnosed with the disease each year have never smoked. Lung cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer in the United States, taking more lives than colon, breast and prostate cancer combined.

Great Lung Run

The goal of the Kelcey Harrison's run across the United States was to raise $250,000 for lung cancer research. Donations are being accepted here.

Despite the staggering stats, there are no pink ribbons worn or mustaches grown in the name of lung cancer. There is, instead, a stigma that the disease is self-inflicted; an illness brought on by a life of smoking. Research and funding is limited and the five-year survival rate for lung cancer is 15.5 percent; it hasn't budged in 40 years. More than half of all people with lung cancer die within a year of being diagnosed.

Costello hung on for 18 extra days.

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By Kate Fagan

What to do about Hope Solo?

That's a question nobody is asking yet — not publicly, anyway.

On Jan. 1, Tom Sermanni takes over as coach of the US women's national soccer team, a change that ensures that fresh eyes are about to evaluate every player on the roster, including the one who currently starts at goalkeeper: Solo.

To some people, this coaching change feels like switching the hood ornament on a luxury vehicle. The engine remains the same, doesn't it? We're talking about a team with significant momentum, only a few months removed from winning Olympic gold in London. The squad, which features several marketable women, is in the middle of a Fan Tribute Tour. For the next month, everything is smiles, high fives and no-pressure matches. This is the happy-go-lucky portion of the team's schedule, as "Fan Tribute Tour" is synonymous, of course, with "victory tour."

Hope Solo: 'I'm happy in my life'

But we are still two-and-a-half years removed from the team's next marquee event: the 2015 Women's World Cup. And anyone who thinks Sermanni won't be building his own engine, to match his brand of soccer, is kidding herself. Just as Pia Sundhage, the team's former coach, put her own stamp on things when she took over in 2007, Sermanni will have a new take on the roster, on what works and what doesn't, on who fits and who doesn't.

More specifically, he will need to decide whether Solo, who will be 34 years old in the summer of 2015, is still worth the occasional PR headache or if she's a case of diminished returns.

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By Jim Caple

While Hope Solo blocked shots during Tuesday's U.S. women's soccer team training session for an upcoming game against Ireland, 11-year-old Natalie Sacker stood near the goal at Jeld-Wen Field wearing a black Solo jersey with a cardboard sign at her side that read, "FC Salmon Creek Loves Hope Solo."

Alex Morgan's medal

In other words, Sacker is a big Solo fan. She has a 6-by-9-foot Fathead poster of the goalkeeper on her bedroom wall in her family's Vancouver, Wash., home. A goalkeeper too, Sacker also writes notes reminding herself to do things Solo does as a player.

So how did this girl respond two weeks ago when she read the bizarre story that her favorite player had married Jerramy Stevens just one day after the former football player had been arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree domestic violence?

Natalie simply told her mother, "I hope the marriage works out, and she is still a great soccer player."

"I think coming from someone that young, that's very wise," Stephanie Sacker said of her daughter's comments. "Not everything in your personal life is worth copying, but that certainly doesn't take away from you as an athlete and a role model in the sport. I thought that was very mature of her to recognize that. ... "You hope for the best and hope there is more to the story that maybe isn't quite as dramatic as it seems."

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By Shannon Owens

What's next for 17-year-old golf phenom Lexi Thompson after charging through junior and amateur competitions and becoming the youngest player at the time to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open? Being immortalized in a Tiger Woods video game, of course.

"I didn't see it coming, but once my manager, Bobby [Kreusler], told me, I was so excited to get this experience," Thompson said. "I mean to be on a video game ... there's nothing like that."

Except actually meeting Woods.

Watch Lexi behind-the-scenes in "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14"

Thompson met her golf idol for the first time in August during a private reception for the competitors in the Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge in Verona, N.Y. The 12-player tournament was split into two groups of six American golfers and six Asian golfers for an East versus West challenge. Thompson and Cristie Kerr were the two LPGA competitors invited to compete on the West team.

"I posted a picture of me and him on my Facebook, and a lot of my friends were going crazy saying, 'That's so sick that you met him.'" Thompson said. "They're definitely a little jealous. But he's just a normal guy and a world-class player, obviously."

Life after London — Jessica Hardy

Much like Woods, the juxtaposition of the normal and abnormal seems to be a dominant theme in Thompson's meteoric rise to golf fame.

She is the second-youngest player to win a LPGA tournament after 15-year-old Lydia Ko, who won the Canadian Women's Open this season. But Thompson still sits in rarified air of women's golf. She is just the second woman to wear a motion-capture suit for the "Tiger Woods PGA Tour" video game. Paula Creamer did it two years ago.

Samantha Davies's Solo Odyssey

Read more about Lexi after the break!

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By Brant James

NASCAR driver Danica Patrick hired her trainer Bob Alejo as she began to transition from IndyCar to NASCAR, but not necessarily because of the heavier, more brutish stock cars she would have to wrangle, Alejo said. He said her workout routine, an all-encompassing regimen that emphasized increasing strength, likely would not have varied if she had remained in open-wheel racing.

Danica Patrick, Tony Gibson a Familiar Fit

"I think it was a concerted idea between all of us that, to whatever degree, athletes are elite in every way — in thought, act, fitness, the whole thing — and we needed to do this." Alejo said.

Most successful modern race car drivers belie — and chafe at — the notion that they are not well conditioned, nor athletes. While degrees of commitment and success vary, strength and fitness routines have become elemental in drivers' preparation, said five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

"There's certainly huge gains during the race, postrace, and during the season from the training," he said. "Being held accountable, week in and week out, helps you make a lot of choices during the week that lead to a better quality of life and, in the end, not only helps you physically, but mentally."

Alejo devised a yearlong workout program with a month-long "transitional period" in December, designed to build strength and increase endurance throughout the racing season. Though many drivers' routines are adjusted to avoid late-season fatigue, Patrick enters her last Sprint Cup race of the season and next-to-last Nationwide Series event this weekend at Phoenix using the same regimen as in January.

See the details of Danica's fitness routine after the break!

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By Kate Fagan

Meet the NBA's first female coach. Well, not yet, but that's at least what Natalie Nakase has in mind. The question is, when will the league be ready? Before we get to The Dream, we must visit the beach.

The beach is where Natalie Nakase is sweating through a Navy SEAL workout with Billy Knight and Earl Watson. The trio attended UCLA together a decade ago, playing basketball for the Bruins. Now, during an afternoon session in Santa Monica beneath the blazing summer sun, they are shuffling and backpedaling and straining on the constantly shifting sand.

Where Do Women’s Sport Go From Here?

A few minutes into their session, a man bikes past and eyes them, craning his neck to get a better look at the unusual scene: two strong, tall, black men crawling on the beach alongside a small, fit, Asian woman. "We always draw a few stares," Nakase says with a laugh. "I guess people don't see this every day."

Nakase has spent the past few years coaching professional basketball overseas — coaching men who tower over her — and the 32-year-old California native earns a living in the offseason by training kids and college players. She doesn't have to be here today, submitting to this torture with Watson, a veteran NBA point guard, and Knight, a shooting guard who plays abroad. But all three friends are chasing something, an intangible edge that comes with pushing the limits.

Female reporters feel singled out by dress code

Which is why Nakase is dragging a 15-pound weight bag through the sand between four orange cones about 20 yards apart, pausing at each one to do 20 soldierlike pushups. After she finishes her last set, she rises, covered in sweat, chest heaving, and brushes the sand off her shins and knees. She has not rested more than a minute before Knight grabs a weight bag and takes off running for a distant lifeguard stand. The 5-foot-2 Nakase follows him, her strides short and strong. Knight returns first, then collapses into the sand and watches while Nakase grinds through her final steps. As Watson looks on, he says to Knight, "NBA players wouldn't even do this s---; they'd quit halfway through."

Lance Armstrong's tarnished legacy

The day before, Nakase had told Watson her ultimate goal, the same one she had expressed to Knight a year earlier:

"I want to coach in the NBA."

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We are pumped to share one of our favorite stories from espnW here on FitSugar! This week, figure skater Ashley Wagner blogs about her journey to the 2014 Winter Olympics.

By Ashley Wagner

To come as close as you possibly can to your dreams without achieving them is heartbreaking.

That's what happened to me in 2010. You may or may not have noticed me back then, but I was the first alternate to the U.S. Olympic figure skating team. Going to the Olympics has always been my dream, ever since I watched Tara Lipinski win the 1998 Games.

When I just missed the team, it kind of made me re-evaluate whether I even wanted to keep skating at all, but I ultimately realized I wasn't done with the sport. I want to work as hard as I can so the next time I won't leave anything behind, and have no regrets.

I started skating when I was 5 years old. I was living in Alaska at the time — one of many places we called home because my dad was in the Army — and my little brother and I were cooped up in the house, challenging my mom as most kids do. She decided to take some action, so she signed us up for a Mommy and Me ice skating class. I loved it, but she hated it. My mom never got back on the rink again, but I never wanted to stop!

Kerri Walsh Jennings On Her Olympic Success

I just loved the feeling of skating. Even as we moved around a lot with my dad's job, my parents made sure there was a rink nearby wherever we were stationed. I was always in a new place with new people, but the ice was the one place I was comfortable and didn't have to readjust. I felt at home, and skating was like an old friend that had always been there for me.

Flag football takes hold in Anchorage

I'm confident I have some talent, but I think the one thing that got me to the point where I am now is I'm a ridiculously hard worker. Everything I've accomplished as a skater is the result of a lot of blood, sweat and tears — the old-fashioned way. I'm on the ice 20 to 25 hours a week depending on the season, and I spend an hour or two off-ice each day doing yoga, core weight training, swimming, running and circuit training.

I've made plenty of sacrifices along the way. In high school when my friends were going to a movie on Friday nights, I didn't go because I had practice early on Saturday. I completed my senior year of high school online because I had moved from Washington, D.C., to Delaware to train with a different coach. I'm 21, but not a normal college kid because I chose to move to California to train full time. Still, I get to do what I love more than anything else in the world, so I'm lucky.

Blog from bobsledder Elana Meyers on Lolo Jones training with them

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By Kathryn Bertine

According to my friend Felicia, I am the 2012 road cycling world champion. Felicia cheered me on in Limburg, Holland, in my time trial and road races in September, and since then she has referred to me as champion of the world. "Where shall we go for lunch, world champion?" she asked, to which I quickly responded, "If I'm world champion, what do you call the 39 women who finished ahead of me in the time trial and the 80-plus competitors in the road race?"

espnW Summit reminds us that women matter

"They're world champions, too," she said, intonating duh.

"And Judith Arndt and Marianne Vos, the actual world champions in the time trial and road race?" I asked.

"They're the extra-special world champions," Felicia assured me.

Oh, I see. Well then, I'm sure they don't mind sharing the title with me.

"Don't you get it?" Felicia said. "You were there. You were at the world championships. That's amazing."

In some ways it is amazing. Taking into account the details of getting to world championships for the past five years, I too have been downright dumbfounded that I've reached the starting line of some of these events. Given the foreign language barriers, homestay dynamics, registration protocols and mechanical issues with my bike — all of which I've often had to navigate solo — the race itself is usually the easiest part of the trip. The wickedly strong legs and unsmiling game faces of the greatest European cyclists have no physical or emotional effect on me, but trying to find a postrace sandwich has often brought me to tears. Worlds man, it ain't easy.

Shamila Kohestani a voice for equality

The day after the road race in Holland, I opened an email from an anonymous sender who didn't exactly share Felicia's opinion that I should be allotted any sense of world championshipism. Since I'd finished 40th in the time trial and been broomwagoned on the sixth of eight laps in the road race (I was hardly alone — only 80 of 132 finished the race), the author of the email felt compelled to articulate my unworthiness. I was a complete loser. I was an embarrassment to my country. I was undeserving of being there at the world championships. Before sending the email into the trash, I had three gut reactions. My first thought was about the unknown writer: Have we dated? My second was about the ridiculousness of it all: One must be incredibly bored or angry to send such a message. My third thought lingered on the words "being there." Even if a competitor is highly unlikely to win the world championships, does she truly deserve to be there?

I believe the answer is yes.

It is no secret that sports fans and athletes usually come in two varieties: those who believe that winning isn't everything and that participation is the true beauty of sports, and those who follow the Ricky Bobby philosophy of, "If you ain't first, you're last!"

Yet in a sport like cycling, where there are often 200 competitors in the elite fields, "being there" is just how it's gonna go for 199 of us. Not coming in first doesn't make a cyclist a loser, it makes her the majority.

Bikini basketball insulting to WNBA

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By Adena Andrews

The flags have been lowered, the crowds are silent, the commercials have finished and the flashbulbs have dimmed. The 2012 London Olympics are over and the reality of post-Games life is setting in for athletes. However, just because the Olympics are finished, it doesn't mean things have slowed down.

For Kellie Wells, who won bronze in the 100-meter hurdles, the running around didn't stop on the track, as her schedule has been jam-packed in the weeks since the Olympics.

The Word: Pregnant and Playing

After London, she spent a month in Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Croatia competing in the Diamond League series of track meets. Then Wells flew home to Virginia, where she did autograph sessions, made an appearance at a NASCAR race and experienced her newfound celebrity among fans from Hampton University, her alma mater.

"When I got home, it was absolutely crazy," Wells said. "There were news stations at the airport and tons of Hampton alumni and students. It took me two hours to get out of the airport because I took the time to sign everyone's autographs. It was so crazy but touching."

Wells also dealt with the dark side of fame as part of a media firestorm surrounding fellow hurdler Lolo Jones. Jones, who finished fourth in the 100 hurdles, got more exposure than other hurdlers through marketing before and during the Olympics. Her sponsors included McDonald's, Red Bull and Oakley.

After the race, Wells was interviewed with silver medalist Dawn Harper, who expressed her distaste for the amount of coverage Jones received.

Danica Patrick's Impact on Ratings Hard to Measure

In the interview, Harper said, "I just felt as if I worked really hard to represent my country in the best way possible, and to come away with the gold medal, and to honestly seem as if, because their favorite [Jones] didn't win, all of sudden it's just like, 'We're going to push your story aside and still gonna push this one.' That hurt. It did. It hurt my feelings."

More on Kellie's post-Olympic ride after the break.

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By Ramona Shelburne

They've known for a while now this was coming. Or at least sensed it. This wasn't a forever relationship. They'd have to say goodbye.

U.S. women's soccer coach Pia Sundhage would go home to Sweden one day. She would move on and the U.S. national team would have to, too. This run they've been on together, this run that has resurrected the sport in this country and turned the players on this team into superstars and role models, it would end when the Swedish-born coach decided it was time to go home.

But when the day came Wednesday, star forward Abby Wambach was at a loss.
"We've been talking about it all day," Wambach said. "What can we do to show her?"

Show her what she had meant to them? To the sport? To the millions of fans across the country who joined in the magical Olympic gold-medal runs in 2008 and 2012 and a runner-up finish at the 2011 Women's World Cup?

Photo blog: Pia Sundhage and the USWNT

"We thought about it," Wambach said. "And we knew the best thing we could do was get her a win."

And oh-so-fittingly, the United States dominated a young Australian squad, scoring five unanswered goals to finish with an emphatic 6-2 victory in Sundhage's last game with the team.

Keep reading for more on Pia's goodbye.

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from espnW here on FitSugar! This week, espnW discusses the worry many moms face when their sons want to play football.

By Jemele Hill

It is impossible to comprehend what Devon Walker's parents must have felt when they saw their son laying motionless on the football field. Imagine their helplessness and fear. Making matters worse, they weren't at the game in Oklahoma, but watching from home in Louisiana when the Tulane senior safety's helmet crashed into his teammate's as they both angled to tackle Tulsa's Willie Carter.

Walker suffered a broken neck, and while doctors have said that he was "alert and responsive" after a three-hour surgery to stabilize his spine, his prognosis remains uncertain.

Finding a kindred sports spirit

But Walker's parents weren't the only ones who watched Devon's situation unfold with anxiety and hopelessness. Thousands of miles away, Holly Robinson Peete's heart was full of empathy for a player and family she didn't know. "It was so intense," said Peete, a Hollywood actress who is married to former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete. "It was again another reminder that we have to pay attention to these dangers."

Street Clothes: Oakland's Marcel Reece passionate about cooking

But for Peete and other mothers who either saw Walker's injury or heard about it, this incident was more than just a reminder about how dangerous football can be. It brought to surface an internal struggle that mothers everywhere are coping with. Should I let my son play football?

Bengals' Thomas Howard tackles the interior

When Kurt Warner said he would rather his sons didn't play football, he drew a firestorm of criticism from former players, including ESPN NFL analyst Merril Hoge, who called Warner's comments "irresponsible." Warner later backtracked on his comments, but for football to continue to thrive, whether former players allow their kids to play doesn't necessarily matter. The key to football's survival is mothers.

Thousands of eyes are watching closely every time a player is injured. Many of those eyes belong to women, to mothers like Peete who have a huge say in whether their sons are among the next crop of football talent. "Eighty-five to 90 percent of the moms in my circle that have sons are digging their heels in and saying, 'I'm not going to let them do it,'" Peete said.

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By Kathryn Bertine

While the world was dazzled by Olympic teen phenoms like gymnast Gabby Douglas and swimmer Missy Franklin during the London Games, a steady presence of "older" female athletes showed that athletic potential goes far beyond the high school years. In the sport of road cycling, Kristin Armstrong won her second Olympic gold medal in the time trial at the age of 39. In fact, the average age of the four members of the women's US Olympic road cycling team was 34. While there are always youthful standouts in any sport, it is safe to say that endurance sports like cycling often reward the older athlete.

"As a kid, I was a nonathlete and always the one picked last for gym class," Team Colavita's Moriah MacGregor, 38, said of her days growing up in Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory. With no interest in sports as a child, it wasn't until her late 20s that MacGregor mounted a bike, after seeing the Canadian national championships nearby. The riders' speed and prowess touched a nerve in MacGregor. "They were so fast and so tactical . . . That race is what motivated me to take out a race license, and the next season, I did my first Category Four [beginner-level] race. I had a lot of work to do to build a base as I was starting from square one."

In 2007, MacGregor shifted her attention to cycling full time, and the results were rewarding. She had top-10 placings at many prestigious North American events, including the Tour de PEI, and caught the eye of the Canadian national team after capturing the bronze medal in her country's road race championship. From there, it was off to the Pan Am Championships and European races, where MacGregor helped vault her teammates — and her country — to victory in some top international competitions. In 2012, MacGregor brought her time trial and domestique skills to Team Colavita.

Defining Winning in a Whole New Way

Yet, as with most tactical sports, it wasn't just MacGregor's fitness that was key, but also the psychological skills that come with age. "There's a lot more to being a contributing member of a highly functional team than just the ability to perform," she said. "I think that having a bit more life experience probably helps . . . It's a coping benefit to have a bit more emotional maturity."

Recently retired cyclist Anne Samplonius, 44, who was with Team Now and Novartis for MS, agreed. "My training is different now — I must pay attention to rest, and rest hard, as my body takes longer to recover," Samplonius said. "But I also think that what I lost in the physical aspect, I have gained with experience. I may have slowed with age, but my experience, knowledge and savvy [have] lessened the gap to those who are much younger that I compete against, so I [was] able to still contribute to the team, be competitive, and even pull off a result here and there."

Allyson Felix: Life After London

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By Sloane Stephens

It was an interesting first day of the US Open, to say the least. I had a nice practice with my South African friend Chanelle Scheepers, then had a fun autograph session at the American Express Experience. As first-round matches got under way and I finished my visit at AmEx, a massive downpour dropped on us. I mean buckets! We got pummeled. There was wind, rain, and leaves flying everywhere. It was pure chaos. All of us players escaped to the player lounge, but it couldn't hold everyone, so I decided to head back to my hotel. We got soaked again as we ran out to our transportation, but it was worth it.

Serena Mentors Sloane

Lunch was the best part of my day, because we had Korean barbecue at Miss Korea. Yummy! Really, I love Korean food; bulgogi and kimchi are my favorites. I know, I know, maybe it's not the most healthy thing to eat at a tournament, but sometimes I just can't help myself.

US Open Scene & Heard: Fan Experience

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By Kate Fagan

After her first-round win at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati last week, Venus Williams went back out that same night to hit more balls. For most players, that would not be a big deal. But practicing extra is something Williams hasn't been able to do — at least not nearly as often as she would like — since announcing at last year's U.S. Open that she suffers from Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that produces joint stiffness and prolonged fatigue. Williams then stepped away from competitive tennis for seven months, and, since returning this past March, she has suffered some of the worst singles defeats of her career, most notably her listless first-round exit at Wimbledon, where she has won five of her seven Grand Slam titles.

Draw set up for Serena at U.S. Open

Yes, Williams won Wimbledon and Olympic gold doubles titles with her sister Serena. But, at age 32, Venus finds herself answering new questions, as tennis fans and pundits wonder whether we are watching one of the greatest players ever shrink before our eyes. After her straight-set Wimbledon defeat, there was talk that we might have seen her last singles match at the All England Club. And now, on the eve of the U.S. Open, which starts Monday in New York City, some are asking whether this could be her last hurrah there, too.

Not a chance.

"She has absolutely no plan of retiring anytime soon," said Mary Joe Fernandez, who coached the U.S. Olympic tennis team in London. "People believe when you turn 32 that you should be done, but Venus says, 'Why?' That was really refreshing for me to hear. I saw a different side of her in London, that she loves the game and doesn't want to stop playing. She was even talking about the next Olympics — four years from now."

Women's No. 1 ranking devalued

Fernandez asked Williams whether she would retire from singles and just play doubles. "She dismissed that idea out of hand," Fernandez said. "She is quite focused on playing singles." Which brings us back to Cincinnati and that postmatch practice session. Maybe it really was no big deal, just a momentary energy surge. Or maybe it was a sign that Williams is writing the opening page to a new script: How to Win with Sjogren's. "I'm doing a lot better than this time last year," Williams told reporters in Cincy, where she made it to the semifinals. "So much better than a couple of months ago, as well. I am learning to deal with everything a lot better."

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We are excited to share one of our fave stories from espnW here on FitSugar! This week, espnW shares an excerpt from soccer star Hope Solo's new memoir, published earlier this week.

By Hope Solo

A hot-button topic the first week of the Olympics was Hope Solo's reaction on social media to Brandi Chastain's analysis of the match between the U.S. and Colombia. Solo writes about the experience in the epilogue of her new book, SOLO: A Memoir of Hope. Here is what ensued in the aftermath of Solo's tweets:

We knew France was good. But we knew we were better. Alex Morgan, with her lightning speed, kept getting behind France's defense. She got her second goal late in the game on a tap-in. We won 4 to 2, beating the best team in our preliminary group.

I was kind of pissed after the game when coach Pia Sundhage told reporters that the sun had been in my eyes on the first goal. Sure, there was glare. But I would never use the conditions as an excuse.

Solo Talks Gold Medal, Chastain Controversy

More annoying was the feedback I heard from home and from fans on Twitter about the way the game was being broadcast on television. NBC had hired Brandi Chastain to do the color commentary on our games. She had been relentlessly negative during our qualifying matches, nitpicking little details and criticizing Pia's strategy. I had tweeted back in January, "Hey brandi did you find anything positive in our game? Curious minds over here ..."

I'm not looking for a cheerleader — far from it. We're all soccer junkies, and we hear a lot of expert commentary while we travel the world. I want the best of the best for our games, and I just don't feel that Brandi is very good at articulating the game. I love that ESPN added Ian Darke to their team for our World Cup, and I like Arlo White on NBC, but I feel that our networks too often take the easy way out: "Oh, let's hire Brandi. She's a world champion who took off her shirt, and people know her name. It doesn't really matter if she's a good analyst or not."

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By Jim Caple

I thought there was no crying in beach volleyball.

This is a sport of sand, bikinis, dance teams, sunscreen, music and laughter. But after completing a 12-year journey on a little stretch of Southern California-like beach imported to within sight and sound of Big Ben, Kerri Walsh Jennings was sobbing and hugging Misty May-Treanor as if she was never going to see her again.

Inside the Edge: Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh

She will, though. Just not on the sand of an Olympic venue with a pair of intimidated competitors on the other side of the net. Beach volleyball's best, most famous team went out the way it wanted to by winning its third gold medal on a sublime summer night at the Horse Guards Parade venue. "Our competitive journey is done and that's a big deal that just crushes me," Walsh Jennings said. "But the next stage is going to be so fun. We're going to be able to be girlfriends and just share each other's families and each other's lives."

"The first two gold medals it was more about volleyball," May Treanor said. "The friendship we had was there, but it was volleyball, volleyball, volleyball. This was so much more about the friendship, the togetherness, the journey — and volleyball was just a small part of it."

Take a Tour of the Oakley House

The two have never lost a match in Olympic play, going 21-0, and dropping only one set ("That pissed me off for a day and a half,'' Walsh Jennings joked). They won their gold by beating a familiar duo, Americans Jen Kessy and April Ross, in a U.S.-versus-U.S. finale. Under such a scenario, Prime Minister David Cameron, whose No. 10 Downing Street residence is literally across the street, must have really found the endless soundtrack of "Moves Like Jagger" and "Party Rock Anthem" extremely annoying. Or perhaps it was more irritating for him to hear "The Star-Spangled Banner" played during the medal ceremony when two American teams took the top two steps on the podium.

U.S. track team restores order

Kessy estimated the two teams have played each other "a gazillion times" over the years, though that statistic has yet to be confirmed by Elias. "We're definitely on the losing side of that battle," Kessy said. "But they are the best team of all time, so it doesn't feel too bad being second to them right now."

Read on for more.

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By Carmelita Jeter

Carmelita Jeter will be blogging for espnW throughout the London Olympic Games. Follow her journey and other Olympic hopefuls on espnW.com

As soon as I landed in London, everything felt different. The excitement in the air was unmistakable and the energy undeniable. When we got off the plane, there was someone there waiting for us with a welcome sign. It took us an hour to get to the Olympic village, and with all the security in place, I felt like I was going to the White House!

"We are Olympic champions!" Gabby Douglas Blogs About US Team Gold

After several thorough security points, I was finally inside the village. There was a truck in front of the building we are staying at that had all of the USA apparel bags and the ceremony outfits by Ralph Lauren. I went into my room for the first time and I felt as though I was back in college in my dorm room. My roommates are six of the USA distance runners. I unpacked, got settled and walked over to the dining hall. I had the chance to see some of the athletes I've seen on TV and noticed that some wore different country uniforms even though they live in the States. I received so much Nike and Ralph Lauren gear that my dad will definitely need to take some back with him when he heads home.

Kerri Walsh Talks About Her Search Of Third Straight Gold Medal

The next day, I was up bright and early — actually too early, since my alarm was still set on Monaco time, so I was at breakfast at 7 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. LOL! I headed out to the track and had a great workout all around. I headed back to the village and heard everyone talking about their outfits for the opening ceremony, but I didn't have mine yet, so I wondered. As the day went by, I was losing my excitement for the ceremony because my clothes had not arrived. I felt like a kid waiting for ice cream who was never going to get hers. I was starting to feel really down.

Julie Foudy's Bloody Brilliant Blog

Read more on what Carmelita's first days in London were like after the break.

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from espnW here on FitSugar!

espnW will offer exclusive and behind-the-scenes access to athletes from the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Follow their journeys at espnW.com.

By Annika Dries

The U.S. Olympic women's water polo team left the national training center in Los Alamitos, Calif. on Sunday to fly to London. Annika Dries gives us an inside look at what one of the squad's days were like during its last week of training in the States.

For more athlete blogs from the 2012 Olympic Games visit espnW's London Voices

6:00 a.m.: Wake up. Eat some oatmeal with a scoop of almond butter.

7:00 a.m.: First practice of the day: weights and conditioning. You need to be strong to play this sport. First, we lift weights until about 8:30 a.m., doing back squats, front squats, box jumps, pull ups . . . you name it. I grab a recovery bar to eat and head to the locker room to get my swimsuit on. We swim, do endless leg drills, and pass and shoot. It's conditioning for us to get used to playing even when we think we've got nothing left.

10:30 a.m.: Brunch. It's recovery meal time. I usually make an egg scramble with spinach, goat cheese, and red bell pepper. Or a turkey sandwich with avocado. I pair one of those with a fruit smoothie with some whey protein.

Crown Jules: Queen's English, Julie Foudy asks Olympic athletes to give their favorite phrase in their best Queen's English

11:00 a.m.: Relax time. Depending on the morning workout and what day of the week it is, I'll take a little nap, and watch a show or read. It's good to have a little break for our minds and bodies before the second practice.

12:45 p.m.: Coffee and snack time. Sometimes I'll go to Peet's and get an iced coffee to get ready for the second practice. It's good to grab a little something to eat about an hour before we get in the water, or else I won't last until 4:30!

Read on for the rest of Annika's day!

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By Bonnie D. Ford

Allyson Felix will never feel as if she has run a perfect race, but, on the last day of June, under overcast skies at the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore., she came close. Felix powered through the curve in the 200-meter final, her signature event, overtaking her rivals in what is normally the weakest part of her race. By the time Felix hit the top of the straightaway, she was alone and it was all over. Her stride opened up. In full flight, she looked almost relaxed.

Watch how Allyson Felix keeps her edge

Felix is often restrained in celebration, but not this night. She hit the finish line smiling. She clapped, hopped up and down, turned and gave a little fist pump toward the stands. Her ledger in the event is practically unparalleled — Felix, 26, is a two-time Olympic silver medalist and three-time world champion in the 200 — yet she had never run it as fast as she just had, in 21.69 seconds.

It was a remarkable performance not only because of the time Felix clocked and because the woman who finished second, 2011 world championship silver medalist Carmelita Jeter, had also run a personal best. The race came after months of flux that began this past August, when Felix, depleted from racing the 400 at worlds, was dethroned in the 200 and finished a listless third. It came after a spring of ups and downs in which Felix settled on attempting a different double, the 100/200, the one nobody expected.

And it came after a maddening weeklong waiting game triggered when Felix and training partner Jeneba Tarmoh finished in a dead heat for third in the 100 only to discover that U.S. track officials had no process in place to decide who should be selected for the Olympics.

Uncertainty still hovered over Felix and Tarmoh when they crouched in the blocks for the 200. Two days later, Tarmoh would controversially withdraw from the runoff proposed as a solution for the 100. But Felix, who has a knack for maintaining serenity in the vortex and who was well-sheltered by her advisers, had a clear mind before the gun went off.

Don't blame Tarmoh for no runoff

Everything she has done since last summer — returning to speed-based training, trying to refine her starts, rejecting the 200/400 double many assumed was the path of least resistance to Olympic medals — has been geared toward running the most flawless race possible, not in Eugene but in London.

The image that propels her is from four years ago in Beijing. A gap of 0.19 seconds, the difference between gold and silver, yawns chasmlike in her mind. Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown is on the other side of that abyss, just as she was in Athens. Again and again in freeze-frame, Felix sees her rival lean into the finish and spread her arms with joy.

"I feel like I can't escape it," Felix said, perched on a couch in a hotel lobby in Philadelphia this past April, a day after helping the U.S. women sweep two races in the Penn Relays. "I'm always thinking about that race, thinking about that final. So hopefully everything goes well up until then. "I definitely go back to that moment of getting second all the time. I don't think I ever really got over it. I think that I don't want to."

Keep reading for more on Allyson Felix's road to the 2012 Olympics.

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By Lindsay Berra

Muscle-up. Say it, and it just sounds hard. Learn what it is — an athlete must move from a hanging position below a set of gymnastics rings to a supported position above the rings, with straight arms — and it sounds even harder. Try it — do a pull-up to get your chest level with the rings, roll your torso through the rings into a dip position and then push your arms straight, and do this all about 10 feet off the ground — and your suspicions about its difficulty will be confirmed.

The muscle-up is one of the most challenging movements CrossFit athletes are expected to perform, and it strikes fear into the hearts of even the best of them. Iceland's Annie Thorisdottir won the 2011 CrossFit Games last July, then became an international star; you've seen her, with her trademark golden ponytail and Reebok high socks, flipping tires and squatting sandbags with Chad Ochocinco in that Reebok ZigTech commercial. Now, Thorisdottir is the odds-on favorite for the 2012 games, which will take place in Los Angeles this weekend. And her journey to the top of her sport began with a single muscle-up.

Ingrid Kantola: Survival of Fittest

Thorisdottir, whose last name appropriately translates to "Thor's daughter" — as in the hammer-wielding Norse god of thunder and lightning — arrived at the 2009 CrossFit Games in Aromas, CA, with just two months of CrossFit experience. She had been taking and teaching bootcamp classes at home in Reykjavik when a friend suggested she enter the Iceland CrossFit regional on a lark. She did, and she won, qualifying her for the games. In Aromas, the raw strength and body control Thorisdottir had acquired over her years as a competitive gymnast and pole vaulter had her in second place heading into the last of eight workouts. But in the middle of that final workout, competitors were required to complete 10 muscle-ups. Thorisdottir had never done even one. "We calculated that all I had to do was finish the final workout within the time limit, and I could keep second place," Thorisdottir recalled. "But I had never even tried a muscle-up before. I was insanely scared. I've never been that nervous in my life."

In the two hours leading up to the final workout, Thorisdottir practiced backstage as dozens of CrossFit coaches and athletes tried to teach her the technique she needed to conquer both the rings and her fear. She entered the arena for her workout and, buoyed by the support of her family and several thousand screaming fans who had fallen in love with "Iceland Annie," completed a single muscle-up, her first. "It wasn't pretty," Thorisdottir said. "But at least I got it." But because she didn't complete the workout, Thorisdottir dropped to 11th place. Still, it was an amazing finish for a young woman — she was 19 at the time — so new to CrossFit.

Recipe for cycling success:

Keep reading for more on CrossFit's reigning women's champ.