On Meb and Baldini

I just read the part of Meb Keflezighi's new book Run to Overcome where the 2004 Olympic Marathon was described. I've got to say that this race was a favorite of mine. I watched it on the back deck of my house with my son, then six cruising in and out.

Near mile 22, Meb and Italy's Stefano Baldini were running together, trying to chase down Brazil's Vanderlei de Lima after having dropped Kenya's Paul Tergat. Meb turns to Baldini and says "Endiamo primo e segundo" (Let's get first and second). As described in the book (p. 129), "His eyes bugged out. He looked absolutely shocked, like he was thinking, Is this black dude in a USA uniform actually speaking Italian to me?"

Shortly thereafter, de Lima was pushed from the course by a deranged spectator. The spectator was pulled away from him by other fans, but de Lima was doubtless slowed and rattled a bit by the incident. He was quickly caught by Baldini and then by Keflezighi.

As the race neared its conclusion, my son was chanting, "Go Meb, Go!" As well as the race turned out, I think my favorite part was when de Lima ran onto the track and "did the airplane" running with his arms outstretched and running a swerving pattern on the track having beaten the odd circumstances that had delayed his arrival. His face reflected pure joy, and I consider it one of the most special moments in sports.

The book, which is an easy read (it was co-written by sportswriter Dick Patrick) provides lots of insights into Meb's success. While I haven't yet finished it, it's clear to me that this book will be a well-loved addition to a runner's library. It will likely be especially valuable to young runners as it contains lots of important distance running lessons presented without being preachy.

National Distance Running Hall of Fame Induction

check out this picture:


From Left: Dick Beardsley, Nina Kuscik, Miki Gorman, Kathrine Switzer, Bill Rodgers, and Larry Rawson

Takedown!

Yesterday, I took a fall at a local park. I was running on a trail that parallels a road. I tripped on a mostly buried rock. It took me down hard. I opened up my right elbow and right knee. After making the "nuggh" sound as i hit the ground, I rolled off my back, got up and got back to running while I tried to evaluate my condition. I took looks at the places that hurt, and saw some blood on both places. They pained me into the night, and my knee felt stiff yesterday, but all was fine today - I should be healed in about 10 days. Still, it was a bit frightening.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

The title is a reference to the theme song of the old Rawhide TV series. The reason for the post was a chance meeting yesterday with a guy who had no legs. I was in a store, and I see this guy in a wheelchair checking out as I went through a nearby line. As I went out, he had headed our before me. I gave him a hand holding his cart while he unladed groceries from it. He was fairly young, I guessing 30ish. We talked a bit about wheelchairs, and he had one of the hand-cranked jobs, I think they call handbikes in the back of his van. He told me he's been called a wimp on occasion by some of the push-rim guys. He also told me that he hopes to compete in the NYC Marathon. Before we parted, I asked if he minded telling me what had happened. He told me he'd lost his legs in the crash of the Staten Island Ferry. I'm always impressed by some of these guys who when life deals them a lousy hand just keep moving forward and do what they can with a good attitude.

On Olympic Medals

My friend, Vince Hemingson, made a post in his blog about choosing not to see Olympic medals at the Canadian Mint. I've seen the Vancouver medals, and they look to be about the size of CD's or DVD's.
I've had the pleasure of carrying a very old Olympic medal around the world. (I also turned down a chance to meet the Queen of England, but that's a whole other story.) One of the places where I took this medal was to the Expo at the London Marathon in 2008. It was displayed there, along with Dorando's Cup, and one of the events was an Italian press conference. At this press conference, which was organized by the Enzo Ferrari Memorial Marathon was Stefano Baldini, the 2004 Olympic Marathon Champion.
I found myself standing close to Baldini, and he commented, "Mine is much bigger." (Now, aside from all the potential nudge, nudge, wink, wink implications of such a statement, it's true.) The medal I was holding was about the size of a U.S. half-dollar. Olympic medals have grown significantly over time, from the very small size of the early era, to these oversize medals of today.
Those of you who might want to run a marathon in Europe may want to consider the Ferrari Marathon. One of the related things you can do tied to it is to visit the Ferrari Museum, which is located in the start city of Maranello. The finish is in Carpi, where marathon legend Dorando Pietri spent his running life. See more about the Ferrari Marathon here.

Olympiad

Last night, as the Olympic Games began, I was at my running club's annual banquet. I did not see the torch getting lit (and what I now understand was its malfunction). The Georgian luger who was killed came up briefly in conversation.
After I walked in with my camera, I got tagged with the official photographer designation. One of my personal highlights is the annual hall of fame induction. Because my club is now 75 years old (unless it's 76 or 77, there's some debate), it was also a special year. Likely the biggest name inducted was high jumper Milton Goode, a 1984 Olympian, and the other big name was Curt Clausen, a racewalker who competed in 3 Olympics (1996, 2000, and 2004) and captured a bronze at the world's in the 50km in 1999. Another inductee was a man who'd run the first New York City Marathon (and is still out there banging it out 40 years later!).
I shot a couple of hundred photos, and will post them on the club's blog.

Millrose Games

I spent last night at Millrose. My favorite race was the college 4x800. The reason was somewhat personal - don't get me wrong, the race was great, but it was only one of several excellent races. In this race, it took a little while to sort out, but around the midpoint, it looked like it was going to be a two-team race, University of Virginia and New York AC (yes, the organizers played a bit "fast and loose" with qualifications, but I think it proved justified). As the anchors took the batons, it had tightened up, with four teams within about 10 yards of each other. Then, the runner from UVa exploded - he just ran away from the field. The announcer commented that this runner was Robby Andrews, winner of last year's high school mile. Robby just blew away the field. It was really impressive, and it's clear that Robbie is going to be a star (it might be argued that he already is), at least if he stays healthy.
The man sitting in front of me was cheering frantically for Bergen Catholic in the Suburban 4 x 400 (I think) and in one of the turns, Bergen's runner went down and disappeared. He'd gotten tangled up or jostled, and went down, that's a part of the close quarters that indoor racing entails. It's sad when that happens, but sometimes it does.
Oh, and Bernard Lagat won his record-setting eighth Wanamaker Mile, surpassing the record he held jointly with Eamonn Coghlan. Lagat ran away from the field in the "premier" event of the meet. It was unquestionably the glamour event, but the women's mile was probably even more stacked with talent (Sara Hall, Sally Kipyego, Hannah England (who won), etc.), and the was lots of superb racing coming from unknowns and lesser knowns.
Aonther fine race came from the high school girls, with Emily Lipari of Roslyn, NY dueling Cory McGee of Pass Christian, MS. Before the race, I'd told my son to watch Lipari and McGee. I didn't realize that McGee had taken second each of the last 3 years, but she looked bigger and stronger than most in the field (my actual term was "looks like a horse" - and that wasn't an insult), and when it was announced that she'd been brought up from MS, it was clear she wasn't "field filler." The two of them set the race, but Lipari, who I believe is stronger as races get longer, faded late.
A good, intelligent recap of the meet can be found here. Another good recap is here.

Best Shape of My Life

My last post drew two responses, the first said, in essence, choose to get into the best shape of your life this year, and the second agreed with the concept. My response is "Impossible!" Why? As recently as the spring of 2005, I was running roughly 50 miles per week, and getting a 50 year-old body to that level from a state of poor conditioning takes much longer than a year, even if issues like the need to earn income, care for my son several days a week, and continue my education were not factors.
So, I still stand by my original premise of "getting into reasonable shape" this year. Now, it's time for a few mea culpas. I did not yet get the training log. I did not begin a formal training plan this week. While I have done a few basic and very limited exercises, they lacked the structure and volume to cause soreness, a sign that muscles were overloaded. So, forgive me dear readers, I have sinned by failing to make progress on my resolution during week 1 of 2010. I promise that week 2 will be better.
Still, how will I quantify my progress? I will establish a single goal, to be able to run 5 kilometers at will by the beginning of summer. I will also draw the beginning of summer to be the traditional start of the summer season here in NJ, Memorial Day. If any readers are outside the USA, that's the last Monday in May. As a secondary goal, I want to lose weight, but am currently unable to quantify that, as I don't own, nor have access to a scale. I will purchase on in the next couple of weeks.

What a Blockhead!

"How do you find running in those shoes?," asked the runner who was passing me.
"Not too bad, but I really feel the big stones," said I.
"Be careful in them, I got a neuroma from running too far here in a bad pair of shoes," he replied.

So began a conversation about my unusual footwear this morning. I was running in boat shoes because I'd driven off thinking my shoes were in the car. It was the second time I'd made that mistake in 2 weeks. What a blockhead!

Last time, I'd headed to the last race of the summer series without them. I racewalked 2 miles in bare feet then. I gathered six blisters, and didn't work out for five days afterwards. What a blockhead!

Got a story of your blockheadedness? Please share, otherwise I'll think you're all perfect!

I Don't Like Spiders and Snakes

Actually, I really have nothing against them, but I had a pair of experiences recently that were a bit unsettling. The first was a pain in my butt shortly after I got dressed one morning. As I got undressed that night, I noticed an odd looking spot on my underwear. On examination, I realized that it was a spider nest. I dry my clothes on a line in the attic, and apparently this is one possible drawback.
The snake part of this comes from a run with my son. We'd gone to a local park where there are many hills and a lake. We ran down the hill to the lake and were running around the lake. My son went ahead to look for the path back, and suddenly he yelled, "Snake." It appeared to be a fairly large water snake - dark green, about 2 feet long and 2 inches across. It was kind of nice to see, but snakes have that "chill down your spine" effect when you first notice them.

You Can Get Anything You Want...

I think this was the first Thanksgiving since my college days that I didn't listen to Arlo Guthrie sing Alice's Restaurant. I own it, and thought I'd listen to it on my mp3, but found I hadn't loaded it. It's usually played on the local classic rock station at either 11AM or noon, but I wasn't listening at the time. So, I wound up having an Arloless Thanksgiving.
I can't help but think about the differences in the eras of the today versus the time the song was written is worth commenting on. Guthrie wrote and performed the song in the latter stages of the Viet Nam War, an unpopular war being fought overseas to "keep free" a people whose culture most Americans didn't understand. Today, we're at war in two overseas nations, one of which is little supported by the American polulace. Still, one lesson we've learned, that is that even if we don't support the war, now we don't condemn the warriors. American policy is the work of the policy makers in government, not of the soldiers.
It's also worth noting that our other war, in Afghanistan, is a follow-up to a war of occupation fought in the late 1970's and much of the 1980's by the USSR. The Mujahadeen fought a war of attrition against the Russians and eventually outlasted them, not unlike what we did to the British over two centuries ago. It was this war that prompted the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics of 1980.

High Crimes

I recently finished listening to a book on CD entitled High Crimes by Michael Kodas. The book was an eye-opening view of what Himalayan climbing has become, with the high cost and low training level of the many paying climbers creating situations where many get in over their heads, and guides and sherpas are loathe to put other climbers climbs at risk by mounting a rescue. Also, theft on the mountains is apparently a common occurence.
In my youth, I wound up pretty well steeped in climbing culture, and one point that was always said was that if another climber was in trouble, you did everything you could to mount a rescue. I believe I'd posted a story about the counselors from my camp helping with a rescue. I'm not sure, but think they dropped us kids at the bottom of the mountain with instructions to set up camp and prepare dinner, which we did. They scrambled up the mountain, assisted with a rescue, eventually carrying the victim down the mountain when the rescue squad members proved incapable of the task (they weren't climbers, were doing the best they could, but simply lacked the strength and skills needed).
The book convinced me that if you want to climb in the Himalaya, you should join a large, high cost expedition or better yet, just don't go. As for me, in my youth Everest and its kin were looked on as the prizes only for the very best in the world. I'm perfectly content to leave it that way. I have a knee that's not quite 100% and caused me to give up backpacking a generation ago, so unless I were to undergo surgery, I'm likely incapable of the work to attempt this. Still, the world of guided climbing has set itself up offering Everest and similar mountains as trophies for a lot of climbers of questionable ability.
Whether this is right of wrong, I can't really say, but I will compare it to the world I know, marathoning. Here's the key difference, if you get in trouble when running a marathon, you simply drop out, take a break and gather yourself, perhaps taking a gel to replenish your energy stores, and you live to run another day. In high mountain climbing, there are several things to consider, first, at altitudes approaching 5 miles, most people are unable to sustain life without supplemental oxygen, Second, even with oxygen, the rarified atmosphere means that simply walking can be a hard effort. Now, add difficult terrain, and you can likely understand that mounting a rescue at altitude without a large and very strong team is nearly impossible. Here's how to look at it in running terms - take a major marathon and instead of paying about $100 to run, or perhaps $300 - $500 including all costs, multiply that by several hundred times for a total cost of perhaps $30,000 to $100,000. Now, tell all the pace bunnies at the race that they need to walk away from their commitments and carry a runner around the course on a stretcher...And cancel the marathon for anyone who was planning to run with the pace bunnies. You now get some idea what a rescue does to those on the mountain - is it right?, is it fair? - you tell me.

A Long Run With My Son

Matthew and I took a run yesterday morning with one of the local clubs. We had to scramble home afterwards because he had a bass guitar lesson. The result was a run with very little social interaction. We ran a longer route because this club moves their Saturday run's starting point for the winter season. The result was that the run, which would have been about 5 miles was likely closer to six. My son was complaining during much of the return. While I find that an out and back route is a benefit because it makes bailing out on a run early difficult, my son complained that it feels like he's running forever and that without laps like in the local park, he can't measure progress incrementally. It was interesting to hear that different perspective.
I started the run needing to hit the bathroom, but was able to make a quick detour in the park to take care of my need. The run took a lot longer than I realized, after a few minutes of rest, I guessed at the time, and it was over a half-hour off (I guessed less.) We tried to stop for a doughnut on the way home, but the shop was closed, so we got a couple of lousy fast food breakfast sandwiches.

Another Stroll

This time for an hour and 40 minutes, and I used it to test my new white shorts for my marathon as Johnny Hayes next week. They worked fine except the pockets, designed to easily accomodate tennis balls, tend to sit open a bit most of the time, as a result, my arm swing tends to make my thumbs catch occasionally on the pockets. I'll need to pin them shut to avoid this problem.
The other uniform item that I'm unhappy with is my Mizuno Itaden shoes. They're a great shoe for walking, but their bright orange color will be a poor match with the rest of the outfit. I'm thinking about picking up a pair of Adidas Sambas, a fairly inexpensive black soccer flat, to complete the look.

A Long Stroll

Today, I particpated in the National 40K racewalk. I say "particpated in" because I was not very competitive, nor did I expect to be. I had not done much racewalking this season, and rather expected that bent knees would likely prove my downfall, as had happened in the past. Sure enough, I got my first card on lap one, but was able to improve my form a bit and last until 14K before I got DQ'ed. When I came around at 16K, I saw three cards next to my number, and I took the number off of my chest.
I continued walking until 22K, as part of a test. I needed to "go long."
My plan is to walk the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in two weeks, dressed as Johnny Hayes. I have not gone that far in over two years, and have not run any distance longer than five miles in as long. I'm heavy (up about 30 lbs. from my "competitive weight" and 40 from my "really competitive weight.), and fairly soft.
At Toronto, there will be people marking three of the athletes - local boy Tom Longboat, first finisher at the Olympic Marathon, later disqualified, Dorando Pietri; and gold medalist Johnny Hayes. On display at the expo will be Dorando's cup, Hayes' medal, Longboat's 1907 Boston Marathon victory trophy and Hayes' 3rd place trophy from the same race. You can see a bit about Toronto's celbration here.

A Lesson From My Reading

I'd bought a belt about a year ago, and it recently delaminated (the layers came unglued). I replaced it, and the same problem happened on its replacement. Then, I thought about something that I'd read, I believe in Kenny Moore's excellent biography of Oregon's legendary track coach, Bill Bowerman (Bowerman and the Men of Oregon: The Story of Oregon's Legendary Coach and Nike's Co-founder), in which one of Bowerman's early lessons on shoes was "glue comes undone, sewing stays together," so when I went to replace the belt again, I got a sewn belt. It seems to be holding, even against by tremendous girth and the pressures thus generated.

Sore Legs

I don't get it. My legs are sore from the five miles I ran yesterday morning. I've run five in the recent past, so soreness shouldn't be happening, but I'm sore. Maybe it was that I was running with two guys who were a bit faster than I am. Anyway, if I'm sore, then I'm progressing.

Going Long

I walked 8 laps this morning, covering 6.4 miles in an hour and 25 minutes, so I was moving at a 13.28 minute pace...for a guy who could get into the low 10's a few years back, that number looks awful. But I did manage to do a "long" workout. I probably should have gone another lap to get past that 90 minute mark, but I was feeling a bit soft as I finished. I think my knees will be whining a bit tonight and tomorrow.
On Saturday, I'd gone down to an area race with my son. It's an end-of-summer cross-country race that is a shakedown for area racers. My son commented that he could beat a lot of the girls in the high school race. He rarely runs cross, so may be neglecting the time penalty of varied soft surfaces.

A Class Act and Some Idiocy

LoLo Jones was all over the reports from Beijing when she hit hurdle number nine and had the race pass her by as she struggled to stay on her feet. She didn't whine or complain, just asked, "Why here?" To me, that was a real class act, she moves up a couple of natches in my book.

Now the idiocy - the USA sends two 4x100 teams to the Olympics, how do both the men's and women's teams drop their batons? I coach kids, and the most important thing I try to teach them is "get the stick around." You can run relatively slowly and beat every team that drops the baton. These people are supposed to be our best; how do they make a stupid mistake like this? There is one way to make sure this doesn't happen...practice! Not only that, but after the men dropped, why didn't the women take a lesson from it? To me, it's inexcusable.

The Running Meatball

Ten days ago, when I ran the five miles, I'd suffered from the dreaded "chub rub," with my overly meaty thighs chafing to the point of having "polka dot" scabbing the next day. A few days later, I ran in my least favorite pair of running shorts. They're a pair of Nikes, which I purchased a few years back when I realized when headed for an evening race that I'd mispacked my bag. They're too long, nylon taffeta and they hold stink really well - I think it's the lining. I noticed as I wore them that I chafed very minimally, so it struck me that the trend towards longer shorts might also be a function of the trend towards obesity on American society.