Almost lost in the euphoria of Ryan Hall's other-worldly Olympic Trials marathon win on Saturday, and the shock and sadness of having Ryan Shay collapse and die on the marathon course, was the story of third-place qualifier Brian Sell.
Sell is the dude with the handlebar mustache, a self-described hick who was born in Altoona, PA, and attended a small Div I school in rural Pennsylvania. Unlike Hall and Ritzenheim, who were members of the running elite even in high school, Sell went off to college with a PR of 10:06 for 3200 meters. But he liked to run and he liked to work, and the marathon has been good to him. In 2004, he bulled his way into the national spotlight by leading the Olympic Trials marathon from Mile 7 to Mile 23, fading to 12th in the final three miles. He earned a lot of respect for himself, and for his club, the Michigan-based Hansons-Brooks Distance Project.
In 2006, Sell finished fourth in Boston, one spot behind Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi, with a then PR of 2:10:55. In the fall of last year, Sell ran 2:10:47 in Chicago, finishing sixth.
In an interview on eliterunning.com after Boston, Sell said:
"After the race... I was thinking about how in high school my 3,200 meter PR was 10:06. I started thinking about how I just ran 26 miles faster than I could run two miles in high school. ... I just hope that people look at it and say, 'Hey if this yahoo can do it, then I can do it too.' ... It's just a matter of putting the miles in and working... Anyone who puts the miles and workouts in can do it, pretty much. In high school, a three mile run was a long run for me and I never would have thought that I could break 5:00 pace for 26 [miles]. I put a lot into it. I mean, I've run an average of 110 miles a week for the last five years. I put a lot into it and I've gotten a lot out it."
(In that same interview, Sell confirms his red-neck status with this description of squirrel-throwing during a training run: "We were all out running one morning and there was a dead squirrel out in the middle of the road and I just picked it up and chucked it at Morgan. You know, some of these guys are from the city. I'm from the sticks and grew up raising pigs so it doesn't really disgust me that much, but they were pretty freaked out about it. I did it more for the shock value, I guess. I came home and washed my hands before breakfast, though.")
On Saturday, undistracted by squirrels, Sell timed his move perfectly and in the final six miles ran down no less than former world-record holder Khalid Khannouchi, Keflezighi, and Dan Browne. On the challenging Central Park course, his time of 2:11:40 was perhaps the best marathon he has ever run.
And if he had failed to make the team? Sell has been quoted saying that he probably would have gone to dental school. Well, America might have lost a hard-working dentist, but it gained a true marathon grinder.
Oh, that quote at the top of the page from AC/DC? According to the bio on the Brooks-Hanson web site, that's Sell's favorite quote.
4 comments:
Not to play the annoying negative guy, but I think the "blue-collar" thing is a little overblown. While Sell's HS PR isn't as fast as Ritz's, St. Francis-PA is not an unknown running school and at the time the team won five straight conference titles in XC and was 3rd at the Div I regional. Sell himself was an All-American in the 10000 while at Saint Francis. Additionally, the Hanson's deal is awesome.
I'm not trying to sound like a jerk - when Sell went by me at 22 miles I was going crazy - and I always support native PA dudes like myself - but the past is the past; he is a legit marathoner just like everyone else. Everyone is working equivalently hard at that level.
Well, now that you mention it, you are being negative and annoying. It isn't just that Sell's HS PR isn't as fast as Ritz's, it's that it was 10:06. I wasn't trying to say that it was a huge upset, or that he isn't now a legit elite marathoner, but that he came a long way to be that. It's also a long way from 10K All-American to Olympic marathoner.
So stop being a jerk and enjoy the blog.
Sell also works at Home Depot 20 hours a week. He likes the break from running - if he worked at the Hanson's store, he'd be around running all the time.
And I would definitely echo the idea of the Div III thing. Division III is really low key, but those who run there love because they love to run.
When I was running for CMS and then Reebok Boston, we had more division III guys than division I guys. And I think that would be found nationwide.
Brian Sell is an inspiration, and his progression from 46th at the 2000 NCAA XC Nationals to 3rd at the Olympic Trials Marathon in 2007 is an impressive feat. Another inspiration for those not so talented runners is Nate Jenkins. Nate ran 9:47 in high school for two miles, and after consistent 100+ mile weeks in college, he "only" managed a 14:32 5k his senior year at UML. Three years later he beats an Olympic silver medalist and places 7th at the Olympic Trials in what was expected to be the deepest field of all time. Those two guys are doing huge things for the sport, probably more than they realize. Through their hard work they make it clear that the "impossible" is possible if you believe in your purpose.
- Tom
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