Photo - USATF Final

Sweet uniform. Photo courtesy of mensracing.com.

USATF Results

After a two and a half hour rain delay in Indianapolis, I finally ran the final. I was dissappointed with my tenth place finish. I was in the mix through two laps and as the pace started to gradually pick up I found myself losing positions. By the start of the last lap I was already in tenth place and watched the rest of the field pull away. I don't know what happened with the television coverage, but because of the rain delay ESPN only showed highlights of the men's 1500 (which obviously didn't inlcude me). Here's a link to the final results: http://www.usatf.org/events/2006/USAOutdoorTFChampionships/results/F5.asp I have one race left for the season. It's the 5th Season 8k in Cedar Rapids on July 4. It's a world class event, just up the street so I'm excited to go back this year. It will be my first road race (aside from the road mile in Eugene) since the 5k in Ireland.

No Halferty Wedding

The race yesterday was a major step for me and I'm glad to get to my first USATF final. I'm definitely missing out on seeing Clark get married and catching up with all my old friends that will be at the ceremony. During the last week I've had a number of calls of support and I was hoping to see those people at the wedding, but it will have to wait until another time. Going into my race on Friday it was very reassuring to know that no matter the outcome I had a large group of family and friends who support me. I know that even if I had run the worst race of my life I would have been welcomed to the wedding with open arms. The thought of seeing my old college teammates and friends helped put it in perspective and made it easier to compete for a spot in the finals. The race went out in 62 for the first quarter and I was in the top 4. David Torrence made a strong move and spread the field out and we came through the 800 in around 2:02 and I was just off the lead in 4th or 5th. Around 600 to go I moved up and with 500 to go things really started to spread out with me battling with Manzano for 3rd or 4th. At the 1200 split I was somewhere around 3:03 or 3:04 and I don't really remember the details. In the home straight Shane Stroup was just ahead of me and he drifted out to lane 2, right in front of me. I could tell that I wasn't going to be able to get around him on his right so I darted for the inside of the track and went for the finish line. I grabbed the last spot for the final but I had no idea until back in the athlete area when Shane's coach, Jeff Pigg, told him that he missed the finals by one spot. I asked Coach Pigg (who I happen to know pretty well) if I had made the final and he just gave me a smile and said something smart-ass about me being from Missouri. Since he knows me from my days at Southwest Missouri State, I let it slide and enjoyed the good news. After the race I enjoyed spending some time with some great friends, Mark Misch, Greg Hipp, Jeff Stiles and his wife Heather. This morning Corey and I made it to the Athletes in Action chapel and enjoyed a great message from Jeff. For more information on Athletes in Action check here: http://www.aia.com/track/ To see Jeff Stiles' bio and his handsome face go here: http://bearsports.wustl.edu/crosscountry/crosscountrycoach.html I'm not sure exactly what the television schedule is for tomorrow, and knowing ESPN, they'll cut away from my race to watch Barry Bonds get walked, but if you can't make it to Indy by tomorrow afternoon, check your local listings for ESPN 2 and you can watch me go.

USATF Preliminary Results

The good news is that I made my first major final. I'll be racing again here in Indy on Sunday. The bad news is that I'll have to miss Clark Halferty's wedding tomorrow. He's a great friend and fully supports me in staying to race the final, but I wish I could be there too. Here's a link to the results (as James as already pointed out): http://www.usatf.org/events/2006/USAOutdoorTFChampionships/results/P5.asp I'll post more after dinner, but I've got to go because Corey's already waiting in the car for me.

USATF Championships Preview

I made it to Indianapolis safely and my coach, Corey, and I are headed to the track in a few minutes. For all the information about the meet, including start lists, results, and the tv schedule, check here: http://www.usatf.org/events/2006/USAOutdoorTFChampionships/ There's a lot going on this weekend, beginning with my preliminary heat scheduled for 5:30 Eastern time on Friday. If I qualify for the finals I race again on Sunday here in Indy and then head to Canada for a series of track races into July. If I don't make the finals, then I'm on my way to Kansas City for my friend Clark's wedding and then a road race or two to end the season.

Palo Alto 1500 Race Details

I spent almost a week in Sacramento, CA with the Iowa State team at the NCAA national championships. Despite a cold that gave him some chest congestion and a serious cough, one of the guys I train with, David Rotich, finished 7th in the NCAA. He ran 3:42.04 in the prelims and competed very well in the final. Two former training partners, Tom Lancashire & Andrew Lemoncello, both had great weekends representing Florida State University. Tom was 2nd in the 1500 and Andrew was 4th in the steeplechase. Complete NCAA results can be found at: http://www.flashresults.com/2006_Meets/outdoor/ncaa1/ That meet finished up Saturday and I stayed that night in Sacramento. After a shake out run and breakfast at the hotel my coach, Corey Ihmels, his wife, Michelle, and I hopped in the car to head to Palo Alto for the meet. We stopped to have some lunch in Vacaville, CA and got to Palo Alto with plenty of time to spare. The meet was well organized with a great field of athletes but there weren't many spectators. Jason Lunn did a great job of setting the pace. At the end of the first lap I was in the very back of the pack and came through around 59 seconds. By the 800 meter mark I was probably about 8th or 10th and my split was 1:58. I decided it was time to move up because the leaders were a significant distance from me, but midway down the backstretch another runner who was running directly inside me had the same idea. The timing of our moves didn't work out well for me and I had to slow way down to avoid a collision. I tucked back in and I heard 2:57 at the 1200 meter mark. I finished well and ended up with another personal best. I had a good dinner with my friend, Jim Sorenson. Thanks to him for helping me out so much on this trip and being such a solid mentor in the sport. Look out for him next year as he goes after the master's world record in the 1500 & Mile.

Nike Farm Team Invite Results

This weekend was a lot like the race at Prefontaine - another personal best and another fifth place finish. I ran 3:41.36, which betters my old mark by more than a second. The time is also more than a tenth of a second under the USATF Championships automatic standard. This means that I'm definitely heading to Indy for my first outdoor national championship meet since 2003. Here's a link to complete results: http://nikefarmteam.org/invite/Results.cfm As always, I plan to post more race details after getting my feet back on the ground here in Iowa.

Nike Farm Team Invite Preview

On Sunday I'm racing the 1500 meters at the Nike Farm Team Invite in Palo Alto, CA. It's scheduled to start at 8:20 pm on the track at Stanford. If you're in the area, it would be great to see you there. In the meantime I'm in Sacramento for the NCAA Championships supporting a training partner, David Rotich. As a volunteer assistant coach, I'm staying with the Iowa State team and it's been good. Today David ran his preliminary heat and qualified for the finals by finishing fifth in his heat in 3:42.04. Early this afternoon Coach Ihmels took me over to the Sacramento City College track to work out. It was warm and breezy but I managed to get a quality session in. I worked out in a pair of regular running shoes because I forgot to pack my practice spikes but I still felt pretty good. I ran an 800 in 1:59, a 400 in 57.6 and a 200 in 26.0 with about 4 minutes rest. I'm hoping to get a run in the morning with a couple friends from Florida State and then after David's 1500 on Saturday I plan to go down towards Palo Alto. Here's a link to the heat sheets on Sunday: http://nikefarmteam.org/invite/FarmTeamInviteEntrries.pdf

Eugene Race Details

This is really slow in being posted, as usual. I’ve had limited access to the internet and I’ve now found my way to the Bay Area. Last Saturday (May 27) I woke up and went for my usual pre-race shake out run and definitely felt like I had traveled all day on Friday. The highlight of the morning came when Erin Gray read me my horoscope. Up until that point, horoscopes held no value to me. She told me that it was a 5 star day for me and although I have no idea if that’s good or not, it sounded promising. I spent the rest of the day lounging around the Gray’s house until we headed to the track around 2:00. By that point it was raining and the temperature was hovering around 50 degrees. I warmed up with the Farm Team guys and tried to stay dry. Our race was in the middle of the Oregon state high school meet so Hayward Field was full of spectators despite the conditions. During the women’s 1500 I milled around on the back stretch trying to block out the fans’ rhythmic clapping each time the runners passed and I thought to myself, “This is going to be good.” At the start I was on the outside and new it would be perfect for me to pick my spot in the pack as we filed in. I found my way towards the back because I was expecting a 56 second first lap but when we completed the circuit I heard 58 for the pacesetter and I was likely around 60. I didn’t worry about it because I hadn’t planned on making any moves until after the second lap and when we came by with the rabbit’s 800 split of 1:59 I knew that it was time to start moving up since I was probably around 2:01. I slid to the outside along with about four other guys so I waited, stayed relaxed and continued to follow. I’m not sure of the 1200 split but things picked up shortly thereafter and the race was on. I closed well, but not fast enough to pull back in the top few guys. When I saw the leader’s time flash on the scoreboard I knew I had likely just gotten a new personal best. I waited for what seemed like an eternity before my name made its appearance in the fifth position with some sweet numbers behind it: 3:42.42. Although only a slight personal best, it was especially sweet since my old personal best of 3:42.73 came in early April of 2003. After a quick cool down, we went back to the Gray’s house so Erin could rest up for a road mile in which she was racing later. The race was called the Eugene Challenge Mile and was put on by the Eugene Running Company. I had already contacted the race director, Michael Black, about waiving my entry in case the Prefontaine 1500 fell through and he was more than helpful. Before the race I introduced myself to him and made sure to make him aware that since I had already race once that day, I might be pacing Erin in the women’s race instead of competing. He was fine with that and welcomed me to Eugene so Erin and I were off on our warm up. I felt pretty good so at the start line I took Bob aside and he pointed out the guys that would likely be contending for the win. Right before the gun I decided that I’d race hard for the first quarter and see where I was at in the race. The top couple guys were right about 60 seconds at the quarter mile and I was hanging back at about 61 or 62 and it felt pretty easy. We hit the half mile mark at 2:05 and I decided to take the lead and pick things up. The three-quarter split was 3:07 and I took it up another level from there. There has been some disparity between the official results and unofficial results but I’d guess that the 4:08 official time is pretty close, except some confusion at the start. Sometime after the cool down but before the awards ceremony, Erin, Bob and I made it back to where the runners were congregating. As part of the race Craig Mottram (a top ranked runner in the world) and Kenny Moore (a distinguished runner and author) were both signing autographs. I was hanging around in that general area when I was approached by the parents of a young runner who politely asked me for a photo with their son, Noah. I was flattered but also a bit embarrassed because within ear shot were two running celebrities and next to them I’m just an average Joe. I guess as far as Noah knew I was as good as Mottram and it’s been a good source of chuckles for me since. The trip has been great so far but in large part to the people that are helping me along the way. Bob, Kathleen & Erin Gray made me feel like part of the family. Erin even did me the favor of towing me down here to my friend Jim Sorenson’s place in San Leandro, CA. I drove him to the airport for a meet in LA tomorrow, so I’m throwing a big party at his place tonight. Sorry for the long, disjoint post that spans over a week. Bottom line is this - the Grays were FANTASTIC hosts, Jim is helping out big time, and I'm racing the 1500 a week from tomorrow (Sunday, June 11) at Stanford. In the meantime, I'm planning on heading up to Sacramento to watch my training mate, David Rotich, run in the NCAA Championships.

Photo - Eugene Classic Mile Award

I'll try and find a better photo, but that's my check for my win.

Prefontaine 1500 & Eugene Challenge Mile Results

For all those searching for the results from Saturday, here are links. It's finally proof that I'm not making up my adventures so far. http://www.preclassic.com/2006results.html http://www.athleteslounge.com/results/event/1642/results.php I'll post more details later about race day and the plans for the next race or two leading up to the US Championships in Indianapolis. In the meantime, here's a link to some chat about me in New Zealand. It's great that some of my buddies there keep up with me. http://www.nzrun.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=927&sid=1cbbbc2f774af69c3ef604824a1b64a6