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Hello from Eldoret, Kenya. It has come to my attention that there were some problems with The Runner's Cookbook and it has inexplicably been unavailable this past week. It seems that those issues have been resolved, and as of yesterday, the cookbook is now available again.
I'm enjoying Kenya tremendously, but I'm also looking forward to resuming updates to eliterunning.com when I return. Never in the past 18 years have I been this out of touch with with what's going on in the running world. I have, however, seen that Doug Logan is the new CEO of USATF, and I got to watch part of Shannon Rowbury's 4:00.33 1,500 on TV...so I'm not completely out of the loop!
Posted by Alison Wade at 6:52 a.m. | Tags: Site News, Fundraising | Comments (0)
For the first time since this site began in the spring of 2006, I am going to be unable to update it for an extended period of time. I will be in Kenya until roughly August 16th, without reliable internet access (as far as I know). My purpose for going over there is not exactly running-related, but we will be staying at Lornah Kiplagat's High Altitude Training Center in Iten, so I hope to return with some great photos and stories.
In the event that I do have occasional access to the internet, I will attempt to post updates to my personal blog. And if not, it'll be good to remind myself how I survived without the web for the first 18 or so years of my life.
Coverage will resume in August, mid-Olympics. Thanks for your patience!
Posted by Alison Wade at 12:15 a.m. | Tags: Site News | Comments (3)
Frank Gagliano received praise for putting three 800 meter runners on the Olympic team last week. t's an amazing accomplishment, but he also coaches a lot of runners, so he had more opportunities. But how about John Cook? As far as I know, he only coaches three athletes, and now all three--Shalane Flanagan, Shannon Rowbury, and Erin Donohue are going to represent the U.S. in Beijing. He certainly has some amazing talent to work with, but all of his athletes, especially Flanagan and Rowbury, have had major breakthroughs under his tutelage. He seems to get the most out of the athletes he coaches. (If you want to learn more about Cook, this is a really good audio interview.)
Shannon Rowbury looked great in winning/dominating the 1,500. We're lucky that three of the athletes who already had the standard went 1-2-3. I wonder how much who had the standard played into how the race played out. We certainly put three of our best on the team, and it wasn't a close race for third, but it must affect you with one lap to go when you know that even if you have the lap of your life and catch the third place runner, you're still not going to the Olympics.
As I observed earlier in the meet, the athletes who have faltered in the preliminary rounds haven't yet been able to turn it around and make the team. Khadevis Robinson, Steve Slattery, and now Treniere Clement all showed signs of weakness in the prelims, and none of them were at their best in the final. It'll be interesting to hear what's up with Clement. So far every time I've seen someone really struggle, it has subsequently been revealed that he or she had some major injury leading up to the Trials. Hopefully Alan Webb, who faltered a bit in his semifinal race, will be the first one to reverse the trend about one hour from now.
I think we are sending a great middle-distance and distance team to Beijing. The more post-race interviews I watch and articles I read, I am also convinced that we are sending some great personalities, who will represent us well. We often hear about the challenges of marketing track & field. If you can't market the inspirational athletes we have on our Olympic team, well, you probably shouldn't be in marketing.
Post men's 1,500 update: Watching at home on TV is as exciting as being in the stadium in many ways. You can't get the full effect of the crowd's reaction to the races, but you can see everything a lot better than you can from the photographers' area at the finish line. Before the race, I had a moment where I realized that I didn't want the race to happen just yet, because that would mean the Trials are over. I quickly got over it. Then I forced myself to say aloud who I thought was going to make the team in the men's 1,500, because I keep saying after the fact that I would have predicted the outcome correctly. I only have my cat as a witness, but I did say, "Lagat, Lomong, and Manzano." I definitely would not have predicted Will Leer in fourth--another Division III alum (like Nick Symmonds) who now runs for the Oregon Track Club (and is sporting a look which makes him look more like a Prefontaine era Oregon runner than a modern one). I cannot fathom what it feels like to be Alan Webb right now, but I am also quite confident that he will be back with a vengeance at some point. That was an amazing race--a perfect way to close out Eugene 08.
Posted by Alison Wade at 7:42 p.m. | Tags: 2008 Olympic T&F Trials | Comments (1)
I'm sure some of you who are watching from home have already figured this out, but NBC is posting clips from the Olympic Trials TV coverage here. When I looked earlier in the meet, they only had select races up, but now they appear to be posting everything.
Posted by Alison Wade at 6:57 a.m. | Tags: Television Coverage, Webcast, 2008 Olympic T&F Trials | Comments (0)
One 3:40 a.m. wake up call and three flights later, I'm home. While Anthony Famiglietti, Billy Nelson, and Josh McAdams were running their way onto the Olympic team, I was probably flying over New York. Now that I'm back in Massachusetts, I'm feeling very nostalgic for Eugene '08. As soon as my last flight landed, I called to get an update on what had happened in the men's steeplechase final. Anthony Famiglietti making the team is a pretty predictable outcome, but and while we knew there would probably be surprises in this race, we didn't know who they would come from.
I admit that when I read this article about Billy Nelson back in June, I thought, "Billy Nelson runs the steeplechase?" (I should have known that since he was fourth at NCAAs last year, but I skipped the meet and apparently didn't pay a lot of attention to the results beyond who won.) But then I saw him run at NCAAs this year, and I knew that he was as good as the article suggested. I was pulling for him throughout the NCAA meet, and I was a little surprised that he did not win. He lost a tight homestretch battle to Arizona State's Kyle Alcorn. I was impressed with him in the semis at the Trials as well, and I am glad that I mentioned this to someone the other day, because he congratulated me on my prediction this afternoon. If you read that article about Nelson, you'll learn that he is only 5'5", he has a nearly one-year-old child, and he works (worked?) 20-25 hours a week at Boulder Blockbuster. If he hasn't already quit his job, hopefully his new sponsor, Nike, is paying him well enough that he will be able to now. Now that CU has put two steeplers on the Olympic team, does that mean they've overtaken BYU as the NCAA steeplechase power?
We gave Josh McAdams a fair amount of coverage when he won an NCAA title in 2006. Here's a quote from that interview: "Before I came to BYU, I never even dreamed of going to nationals. And now, being a national champion, I don't think I could live with myself and say no [to trying to make the 2008 Olympic team]. So I'm going go out there and see what I can do." Two years later, he's done it.
Due to very short layovers and limited laptop battery life, I don't have many photos to post today. I am going to spend much of tomorrow attempting to post everything I can, so stay tuned for that.
[Update: I finally got to watch the men's steeplechase final online. What an exciting race. The results never tell the full story. In addition to the guys who made the team, Dan Huling, Brian Olinger, and Jake Morse really went after it and hung in there for a while. Olinger ran particularly tough, but it's always easier to be the hunter than the hunted.]
Posted by Alison Wade at 10:23 p.m. | Tags: 2008 Olympic T&F Trials | Comments (0)
As I write this, there are fireworks going off over Hayward Field while various patriotic tunes play over the loudspeaker. It's a fitting close to my Olympic Trials experience. The Trials aren't over, but I'm going home tomorrow, and tonight's women's 5,000 and men's 10,000 finals were a good note to end on.
I'll start with the women's 5,000. Just what I feared—hours later, we still don't know who made the team. I swung by the press conference ever so briefly, just to hear Shalane Flanagan say that she is leaning towards just doing the 10,000 in Beijing. She has until Sunday to decide. Kara Goucher wasn't around at the time, but I'm sure that question will come up and we'll be able to read about what she had to say tomorrow. More likely than not, Lauren Fleshman, the fifth place finisher, is also on the Olympic team, but I'm sure these are not the circumstances under which she wanted to make her first Olympic team. She doesn't get to participate in any of the post-race celebration or the awards ceremony, and the crowd doesn't get to celebrate having one of "their own" on the team. Fleshman was surprisingly absent from the lead pack once the race really got going, but because she has the Olympic "A" standard and fourth place finisher Sara Slattery does not, she will most likely be representing the U.S. in Beijing.
Though you can't necessarily tell it from looking at the results, there were several women who don't have the "A" standard of 15:09.00 who tried to keep the pace going throughout the race. Molly Huddle was one of the runners who went for it, then ultimately paid the price. Up front, it was a great race, Though Jen Rhines and Flanagan seemed pretty disappointed not to have won the race, I was impressed with the closing speed all of them displayed. Of course, if they're going to compete with the world's best, they're going to have to do even better than that, but they all had nice speed at the end. It's nice to know we're sending our best 5,000 and 10,000 meter runners to Beijing. Their last three 400s, according to USATF, were unofficially 66, 66.5, and 65.5 (for Goucher). One thing I love about the Hayward Field crowd is that the announcer can mention that the leaders just split 65 or 66 seconds, and the crowd will go wild. In many places, the majority of the people in the crowd don't really understand what that means. It would have been a more exciting race, in my opinion, if they had started pushing a little sooner, but they put on a good show. Kara Goucher had a quote the other day along the lines of, "I never win anything, but I'm always out there celebrating like I did." (In Osaka and after the 10,000 final.) Well now she has won something, and I'm sure she was a star, as always, in her post-race press conference,
It has to be a bittersweet evening for Kara Goucher, because as she was celebrating her win, her husband Adam was running his way to a seventh place finish in the 10,000 final. Only one Goucher will be competing in Beijing.
The men's 10,000 was a good race, and it was nice to see the runners moving along at a decent pace. The three runners who made the team, Abdi Abdirahman, Galen Rupp, and Jorge Torres, already had the Olympic "A" standard, but they also ran it in tonight's race. The trio broke away early enough in the race that there wasn't much drama there. The dramatic part came when it looked like, for a few laps, the chase pack might work its way back up to the leaders. James Carney was instrumental in getting things going around this time, even though his sixth place, 27:58.81 finish doesn't necessarily suggest that. Adam Goucher also hung tough. He and Carney put a lot of effort into narrowing the gap, which is probably why they didn't have as much closing speed at the end. Ultimately, they were unable to make a big enough dent, and no one up front faltered.
Galen Rupp is no Andrew Wheating, but he still gets a huge reaction from the crowd. Any time he got near the lead, the crowd went crazy. He challenged Abdirahman with two laps to go, but Abdirahman had another left. As fun as it would have been to see the crowd's reaction to a Rupp victory, Abdirahman did most of that work in the race, so it was nice to see him win. Abdirahman has always had a fun spirit about him, which was evident when he jumped in the steeplechase water pit on his victory lap.
As was the case with the women's 10,000, I was happiest for the third place finisher—Jorge Torres, in this case. He often gets overlooked, and even after I have conversations with people about how he is often underrated, we then proceed to overlook him again. I think a lot of people were expecting someone else in that third spot on the team, but at the same time, his third place finish is a pretty predictable/obvious outcome. It was fun to see him celebrating with his twin brother, Edwardo, who finished 11th in the race. I was sitting near someone who was providing updates about the Torres brothers' progress throughout the race, via cell phone. (It must have been frustrating to be on the other end of the call when she told the caller, "He's running behind the Nike guy." That narrows it down...barely.) Galen Rupp was under a lot of pressure here, and he silenced his critics...or at least some of them.
To be completely honest, despite the good distance races we had tonight, my favorite moment of the day was watching the crowd's reaction to Jordan Hasay. As she moved up in the final 200, the crowd went crazy, and she seemed to feed off of it. She passed several runners and took fifth in her semi, which advances her to the final. Apparently she doesn't need to leave for World Juniors until Monday, so she will be competing in Sunday's final. Hasay's time of 4:14.50 destroys the old high school record (held by Christine Babcock, who faltered a bit and took ninth in the same heat in 4:20.00), but it is probably still inferior to Polly Plummer's high school mile record. Hasay has had a lot of pressure on her since early in her running career, with many predicting her eventual demise. She just keeps proving them wrong, adapting as a runner, and getting better. It's nice to see so many high school kids making a splash at this meet.
Shannon Rowbury, Lindsey Gallo, Christin Wurth-Thomas, and Erin Donohue have looked great in both of their 1,500 races so far. I was surprised to see Treniere Clement struggling a bit today, and I hope she was just having a slight off day, because on her best days, she capable of beating anyone in the field. On the men's side, it looked for a momement like Alan Webb might be in trouble as he headed up the homestretch, but had about half a second to spare at the finish. Bernard Lagat is still an overwhelming favorite, in my book, but I have to say that Lopez Lomong has looked really good during the rounds. Leo Manzano hasn't looked as good as I would have expected, but maybe he is saving his extra gear for the final. Gabe Jennings is also looking surprisingly good, and I may have to adjust my view of whether or not he can contend for a spot on the team. I could imagine a scenario in which he finishes in the top three, but I'm not sure he would also get the Olympic "A" standard in the process.
I am really looking forward to watching the remainder of this meet on TV. (Assuming they actually show the whole race, you can actually see more on TV than you do from the finish line. The atmosphere at Hayward Field makes up for the sometimes poor sightlines.) I will be heading to the airport in about four hours, so I'm going to try to at least take a nap before that. I have approximately one zillion photos that still need to be edited, so I am going to work on that as much as possible over the next two days, while also flying across the country, unpacking, and repacking to leave for Kenya on Monday. I'll do my best, but there's a chance that some of my Trials photos will not be posted until August.
Posted by Alison Wade at 11:57 p.m. | Tags: 2008 Olympic T&F Trials | Comments (2)
Masters 3,000: I liked the article about Tony Young (who won the race in 8:47.17) and his son, Mack, who just finished his sophomore year of high school. The gist is that Tony (who ran 4:16 in the mile this year) can still beat his son (who ran 4:19 in the 1,600). If I ever have children, I plan to use them for motivational purposes and never let them beat me, not even in the kiddie races. Just kidding.
I am running-obsessed enough that the first time I heard the song "Hey There, Delilah," I thought of Delilah DiCrescenzo, and then scolded myself for having a one track mind. I felt a little vindication when I learned that she was indeed the subject of the song. (And now I am extremely sick of hearing about it, and hope she accomplishes so many great things in her life that The Song becomes just a side note.) Similarly, I am the kind of person who would see the name "Dan Franek" on the start lists of the masters 3,000 and think of Bridget Franek. So I once again feel vindicated to learn that he is indeed related to the Penn State steeplechaser who competed earlier in the meet. He finished sixth in 9:01.72. Wow, who knew I had so much to say about the masters 3,000. This could be a long entry!
Women's 1,500 prelims: I thought the most interesting story line in the women's 1,500 prelims was the two California high schoolers, Christine Babcock and Jordan Hasay, who were competing. They were in different heats but had similar experiences--both ended up in the lead on the first lap, they ran very similar times (4:18.32 for Babcock, 4:18.39 for Hasay), and both advanced. Hasay won't be running today's semis because she's heading to Poland to compete in the World Junior Championships, but I suppose this was as good a tuneup as any, and a good experience to have under her belt four years from now. (Update: USATF is letting Hasay delay her travel to Poland, so high school running fans will finally get to see the showdown they wanted, because Hasay and Babcock are in the same heat. Hasay outdueled Babcock in a two-mile in April, but Babcock has faster 1,500 and 1,600 times coming in.) The biggest surprise of the first round was that Brie Felnagle did not advance. She dropped back significantly before dropping out of the race. I'm sure there's a story behind her off day, but I haven't heard it yet.
I've heard several people make the observation that there isn't much of a point to allowing 30 runners into the 1,500 and then only eliminating six (and since there was a scratch on the women's side it was really only five) runners in the first round. Why not allow 36 in and have heats of 12 instead of 10? The depth in the women's 1,500 isn't quite as great--there's a 10.67 second difference between the first and 30th qualifier on the men's side, but a 15.41 second difference on the women's side. Nine men missed making it in by less than a second, whereas only three women missed by less than a second. Either way, let more competitors in and a) the first round has more of a purpose, and b) if more people see the point of busting their butt to get to this level, it'll raise the level of competition (which might have the added bonus of helping to improve the depth on the women's side).
It's not exactly insightful to say that the top four runners on the performance list (Shannon Rowbury at 4:01.61, Christin Wurth-Thomas at 4:04.88, Erin Donohue at 4:05.55, and Treniere Clement at 4:05.68) are the four most likely to make the team, especially since they are the only ones with the Olympic "A" standard, but the spots are theirs for the taking. I definitely would not rule out a breakthrough performance by a handful of the women in the field, but those four, especially Rowbury and Clement (who has proven her ability to win races and race well when it counts), are the strong favorites.
Men's 1,500 prelims: Ditto about letting more runners in the field, and isn't there some way for us to sort out who's actually in the race ahead of time? I keep hearing stories about people finding out they are or aren't competing at the 11th hour. But my main observation of the men's 1,500 prelims is that a lot of people are wasting too much energy in the rounds. Sure, some people need to run all out to advance. But last night, I saw too many veterans trying to make statements (to themselves? the crowd? their competitors?) about their fitness, or running with a lack of confidence. And the first round is definitely not the time to raise your hand in victory (as in "I'm number one"). Sure, some of these guys were just having fun out there and trying to get the crowd going, but if you kept an eye on Bernard Lagat, he showed us how it should be done. He certainly has an advantage (being the best runner in the field), and he doesn't need to make a statement to boost his confidence, but he sat back early on, stayed out of trouble, and did what he needed to do on the last lap. I'm not saying everyone in the field could get away with that, but some of the stronger runners in the field could, but didn't. Tonight's semis should be interesting, and I would not be surprised if someone who we consider to be a strong contender was eliminated.
On a side note, it was interesting that Gabe Jennings was willing to do a Q&A session at the Running Film Festival yesterday afternoon, hours before his 1,500 meter prelim. He showed a clip from his film, "The Running Militia" and entertained the crowd afterward. I was impressed with the way he handled himself. Articles about him often focus on the more "out there" side of his personality, but I found him to be intelligent and witty (with a little "out there" mixed in). On a side note, while I am generally not all that interested in what people have to say about Jennings (because it's usually nothing new), I really liked John Brant's article about him in the last issue of Runner's World. I bring all of this up because some people wouldn't even consider doing something like that the day of a big race, but some people seem to like to go about their normal routine, and appreciate the distraction. Of course I think we all know by now that Jennings is pretty different from some of his competitors.
Men's steeplechase prelims: It's a blow to the strength of our Olympic team that Daniel Lincoln is out for the season, but this should make for an exciting final, with a lot of people in contention for the three spots on the team. A handful of people looked good and ran well last night. I've been surprised by Billy Nelson this season--and he's particularly impressive for someone who is not all that tall. Anthony Famiglietti should be one of the favorites to make the team, and I'd say the same for Steve Slattery, except he did not look good last night. He advanced on time, but I would have expected to see him up there among the top four in his heat. Every time someone has had a sub-par preliminary race at this meet thus far, I've thought, "Well maybe they were really just taking it easy." But so far, it's proved to be a sign of things to come. Hopefully Slattery can be the one to reverse this trend (if someone in tonight's women's 5,000 final doesn't do it first).
Women's steeplechase final: Big moment for the sport, blah, blah, blah, girl (woman?) power. (That was my requisite mention of how this was the first time women will be running the steeplechase at the Olympic Games. It's great, of course, but it should have happened a long time ago.) Timing is a big part of making an Olympic team. Nicole Teter's timing has been great. Elizabeth Jackson's, Briana Shook's (as well as Lisa Galaviz and Ann Gaffigan, even though they did compete in this race) was not. It's great that Anna Willard, Lindsey Anderson, and Jenny Barringer will have the opportunity to represent the U.S. in the steeplechase at the Olympic Games, and it's too bad more women haven't had that opportunity before them.
I am not at all surprised by who made the team in this event, and I probably would have correctly predicted the order of the top five finishers, aside from the fact that I would have moved Jenny Barringer up on the list. Anna Willard ran a great race, and I think she could have gone faster had she made a move sooner. Though she set an American record, this meet is not about records, it's about making Olympic teams. Mission accomplished. I love Willard's story of how she came up through the ranks, and I hope a lot of young women are inspired by it. I think the American record is still pretty weak, given the talent the U.S. has in this event. I would not be at all surprised to see it drop down closer to 9:20 in the near future. It's pretty amazing how quickly the "face" of women's steeplechasing in the U.S. changes. Two years ago, we probably never would have predicted that Willard and Lindsey Anderson would be Olympians in 2008. (Jenny Barringer was an NCAA champion at the time, so it was a little easier to see that coming.) I think we're sending a great group of women to Beijing, and they were very cute as they celebrated on their victory lap and on the podium.
Though they did not make the team, I have been particularly impressed by the year that Nicole Bush has had, as well as Carrie Strickland's breakthrough. Bush redshirted the season to get ready for the Trials, and it paid off as she finished fourth in a big PR of 9:40.27. I was impressed by how Strickland ran in the prelims, so I spent a moment googling her after the race, and found this to be a useful article. She backed that up with a solid performance in the final as well, running 9:53.67 for ninth.
Long Jump, Triple Jump, and USATF Coaching Education: No, I didn't actually get a chance to watch the women's long jump final last night, though I would have liked to. However, I wanted to praise USATF for their initiatives as far as educating coaches. On the first off day of the Trials, they held a "Super Clinic" at South Eugene High School. There was an endurance portion, but in an effort to become a more well-rounded coach, I attended all of the horizontal jumps sessions. I got to hear Joe Walker (who coaches Brittany Reese, winner of last night's long jump), Randy Huntington (who coached world record setters Mike Powell and Willie Banks), and several others talk about the horizontal jumps. Most of the coaches who I've encountered at events like this one are more than willing to share what they do with their athletes. That's a neat thing about our sport. Thanks to USATF for providing the opportunities.
Tonight's Action: I think the women's 5,000 final is going to be great. We have four really strong contenders—Shalane Flanagan, Jen Rhines, Kara Goucher, and Lauren Fleshman (listed in order of their qualifying times, because I'm not going to attempt to guess what order they will finish in, other than to say that I think Flanagan is a pretty strong favorite). But the things which I think could potentially spoil this race are a) we don't know in advance which placer will get the final spot on the team, and b) if we have to think about who has the Olympic "A" standard and who doesn't. Anyone who runs with the top four is going to have to step it up to get there, and I really hope that one or more of the women in the race does this (aka pulls an Amy Yoder Begley). Flanagan and Goucher have not yet said (as far as I've heard) whether they would double in Beijing or not. It sounded like Flanagan is considering it more than Goucher, but who knows. The 10,000 is first in Beijing, so they'd have nothing to lose. But, as one veteran coach put it, why not focus solely on their stronger race, and then go make some money running elsewhere. Maybe the coaches or agents of the potential contenders know what Flanagan and Goucher's plans are, but it would make it a more exciting race for the rest of us if we knew who will be on the team as soon as the three? four? five? runners cross the finish line. Olympic qualifying aside, I think this has the potential to be the best race we've (or at least I've) ever seem among American 5,000 meter runners. (And notice I didn't qualify that with a "women's.")
As for the men's 10,000, it's a relief that at least a small handful of the competitors have the Olympic "A" standard...hopefully the first three guys across the line will. I'd like to see someone who doesn't step it up, but I think it's safe to say that our main contenders will be the ones who have it. Abdi Abdirahman is a pretty strong favorite, and if anyone ever had a home field advantage in track, Galen Rupp should have it tonight. This will be my last day at the Trials, but what a way to finish it off!
Posted by Alison Wade at 1:47 p.m. | Tags: 2008 Olympic T&F Trials | Comments (0)
I admit that I'm feeling a little guilty that three days after the fact, I still haven't written anything about the 800 finals or the men's 5,000 final. I sat down to write immediately after the races, but what I had to say about the men's 800 final could basically be summed up as "Wow." Three days later, I'm not sure I have much more to say. It was one of the best races I've ever seen, if not the best. No, I don't believe that the crowd at Hayward Field directly affects the outcome of the races, but I do believe the crowd is capable of inspiring athletes to push themselves to their absolute best, as was the case with Christian Smith the other night. Nick Symmonds just dominated the race, and the general consensus seems to be that Andrew Wheating could or will end up being the best of them all.
As for the women, I think any race at the Trials in which some of the athletes don't have or get the Olympic "A" standard is going to be less exciting. It's nice to see the top three athletes cross the finish line and know that they are the ones who will be representing the U.S. in Beijing. Even though anything can happen, Hazel Clark and Alice Schmidt were the two most obvious picks for the team, and they came through. It was hard to watch Kameisha Bennett deal with the mixed emotions of finishing third but not making the team, because she didn't have the Olympic "A" standard. On the other hand, I am absolutely thrilled for Nicole Teter. Though she has been through a lot in the past four years, talk about pulling it together at the right time to make her second Olympic team.
In his brief chat with Sean Quigley, Scott Douglas basically asked why someone without the "A" standard wouldn't push the pace in a distance race at the Trials. That was all I could think about as I watched the men's 5,000 meter final. Yes, everyone who has watched a bunch of distance races knows that more often than not, if someone with equal or lesser ability tries to run away from his/her competitors, he/she gets swallowed up by the chase pack and spit out the back later in the race. However, if you run slowly, you definitely won't make the team, so why not at least go for it a little? So I was surprised that no one really tried to go with Brent Vaughn. Yes, maybe he would have run faster and placed higher if he had hung back early on, but at least he went for it.
As for the people who did make the team...having watched Bernard Lagat race here three times now, he is just at a completely different level than everyone else right now. It's almost like he is being polite by not blowing everyone away too badly. Matt Tegenkamp apparently had a very rough road leading up to the Trials. He had a minor injury which kept him out of the Prefontaine Classic, then he had a setback involving an allergic reaction to some ultrasound cream. In the race itself, he struggled with a killer sidestitch. Anyone who has followed Tirunesh Dibaba's career (or has gotten a killer sidestitch), knows how such things can stop you in your tracks. Good for him for gutting it out and making the team. Ian Dobson has had a bit of a rough time since college, so it was great to see him run the race that everyone knew he could run. Bolota Asmerom ran a great race. It's unfortunate that Chris Solinsky can't be on the team too, but such is the nature of the Trials. Despite Solinsky's initial comments about being "hung out to dry" during the final, it appears that all is good once again in the Tegenkamp-Solinsky relationship...because I know our readers must have been terribly worried about this.
Being in Eugene feels like being at track camp. If you are a track fanatic, I highly recommend trying arrange your life in a way that will make it possible for you to be here for the Trials in 2012. I've been running with a variety of interesting people, and meeting many people who I either a) didn't know at all, or b) only knew via the web. We seem to end up running on Pre's Trail most days, even though there are other nice places to run in Eugene as well. On one of our eight-ish mile runs, we counted 11 running "celebrities." It kind of makes me feel like a stalker, but it's also fun to play the identification game. It can be surprisingly difficult (especially with the men, in my opinion) to ID people when they are not wearing their sponsor or school uniform. Some of my colleagues appear to be growing a little weary and have expressed their eagerness to return home. I think I'd be happy to stay here at the Trials for a couple months, as long as we had constant entertainment. Unfortunately, I only have one more day in Eugene, but fortunately it will involve watching the women's 5,000 and men's 10,000 finals, which should be great.
Today featured the first round of the 1,500 (men and women), the women's steeplechase final, and the men's steeplechase prelims. I do indeed have a bunch to say about those races, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. We are getting up at the crack of dawn to participate (but probably not compete) in a well-known local race, the Butte to Butte 10k.
Posted by Alison Wade at 11:34 p.m. | Tags: 2008 Olympic T&F Trials | Comments (2)
Every time I attend an event which, had it not been for her accident, Jenny Crain might have participated in, I think about her a lot. At the Olympic Marathon Trials in April, I thought about how Jenny should be out there contending for a spot on the Olympic team. I wished her absence had been acknowledged in a more public manner, and I hoped that everyone who did line up for the race realized how fortunate they were to have that opportunity, even if they did not have the race they wanted on that day. While she would have had to pull off the best race of her life to make the team, she had earned the right to try for that spot, like everyone who competed that day. What happened to Jenny is something that could happen to any of us who hit the roads day after day. In one instant, your life can change forever, as it did for Jenny Crain last August 21st.
I don't know if Jenny would have run the 10,000 at the Olympic Trials, but as the women lined up for the race last Friday night, I thought about her again. Instead of contending for a spot on the Olympic team, Jenny is involved in a much harder "race." Her family posted an update on her progress three days ago, which indicates what a difficult battle she faces. Though the post is written with an optimistic tone, it also provides a candid description of how much work she has ahead of her. I've never met Jenny, but I've heard nothing but wonderful things about her, both from those who know her well and those who only had brief encounters with her.
If you, too, are thinking of Jenny, please consider making a donation to the Jenny Crain - Make It Happen Fund. You can also support the cause by buying a copy of "The Runner's Cookbook: Winning Recipes from Some of the World's Best Athletes." To date, the cookbook has raised approximately $2,750 for the "Make It Happen Fund," (with an additional $2,750 going to the Ryan Shay Memorial Fund). I hope we can raise much, much more before we're through. A feature in an upcoming issue of Running Times will hopefully produce a boost in sales. I was only able to bring 16 copies of the cookbook with me to Eugene, but if you're in Eugene, I will be selling the book at the Running Film Festival (cash/check only) on July 3rd.
Posted by Alison Wade at 3:15 p.m. | Tags: Fundraising | Comments (0)
I've been quiet for a couple days, mostly because I've been editing photos. You wouldn't know it from the rate at which I've been posting them, but I've been working very hard. There's one essential step in the photo editing process that my software is doing incredibly slowly, causing the holdup, but I'll keep doing my best to get things up as quickly as possible.
I thought I wouldn't have much to say about the 800 semis, but unfortunately the first heat of the women's 800 was more "exciting" than one would normally expect. USATF has posted some great photos of what happened in the first heat. At first, I was completely heartbroken for all four athletes who fell, and even felt that it wasn't even fair to those who didn't (because they didn't get a real race). Thankfully, the officials made a good call and advanced everyone in that first heat to the final. This is still not completely "fair," because then it becomes a situation where anyone in the first heat was actually lucky, and those who were eliminated from the second heat would have been better off in the first heat, but I think they came up with the fairest possible solution, given the events that occurred. Hopefully having a 12-woman final tonight will not be a problem. Based on what I've observed so far, Maggie Vessey is my darkhorse pick to make the team. I should just keep my mouth shut on this one, because chances are that she won't make the team, but if she does, she'll make me look like a genius.
I think the men's 800 final is going to be one of the best races of the meet. When one of the other photographers asked me who was going to win one of the semifinals, I realized there were so many good choices. Some of the other events at this meet have much stronger favorites, whereas I think the men's 800 has quite a few very strong contenders, and few people who can be ruled out. Vin Lananna seemed to be trying to play his chances down this morning, but I'd be surprised if Andrew Wheating didn't make the team. I also think some great 800 runners were eliminated in the semis. (I was particularly sorry to see Jacob Hernandez and Sam Burley go, because on a different day, I think they could contend for spots on the team.)
I am particularly excited to watch the women's steeplechase semis tonight. I think this is the event where we're most likely to see an American record (not including the event where we already have seen an American record). But more importantly, and somewhat unbelievably, we will be selecting our first-ever women's steeplechase squad for the Olympic Games on July 3rd. It's about time!
I attended a TAFWA breakfast this morning and became a member of the organization. I say this with tons of respect for the white, male, age 40+ members of the organization, but we need more young, non-white, and/or female writers and photographers covering the sport (and joining TAFWA). Thanks to Nike, we got a free breakfast, and we also got to hear from Olympic coach Bubba Thornton, Vin Lananna, and the three women who will be representing the U.S. in the 100 in Beijing—Muna Lee, Torri Edwards, and Lauryn Williams. My favorite line of the morning came from Lananna. When asked if Andrew Wheating was the biggest surprise of his coaching career, he responded, and I am paraphrasing here, that he coached Gabe Jennings, and with Gabe, every day was a surprise. But he confirmed that yes, Andrew has been a big surprise. (Lananna's delivery was much better than mine.) And though I don't cover sprints, multis, or field events (due to both a lack of in-depth knowledge, as well as a lack of time), I am a big fan of all of of the events that make up this sport. This was my first encounter with Lauryn Williams and any further success she has will be great for the sport. She is intelligent, witty, and good with the media.
Posted by Alison Wade at 1:02 p.m. | Tags: 2008 Olympic T&F Trials | Comments (0)