New Blogs and Old Tricks

You might have noticed that I haven't posted recently -- as in, for a couple of years. Sorry about that.

Since then, Newton North Track and Cross Country has won multiple team and individual state championships, adding all sorts of hardware to the already over-stuffed trophy cases in the new school. I've loved seeing this, even if it has been over seven years since I've had any involvement in the program. There's no way I can offer enough congratulations to the Newton North coaches and athletes for those accomplishments, but congratulations anyway!

For those few of you who still check this site from time to time to see if I've emerged from my long winter of hibernation, I want to say that it's unlikely that I'll ever be posting about Newton North and the Bay State League. However, if you are interested in the smaller world of the larger running community, I have started another blog to write about my adventures and thoughts as a runner, coach, and fan.

I don't intend to write much about High School Track and XC, although -- who knows? -- I might start doing that at some point. Mostly, I'm going to just write about what I'm thinking, which means using running as a jumping-off point for all sorts of digressions and flights of fancy. Consider yourself warned.

Anyway, the new blog is here: therunnereclectic.com

Thanks for being patient all these years.

Barnicle 14th (3rd American) at Falmouth

I'm going to take a short break from thinking about the Olympics to mention a welcome result from the world of Road Racing.

NNHS, Arkansas, and New Mexico alum Chris Barnicle finished 14th (3rd American) at the Falmouth Road Race on Sunday, running 33:29 (4:47 per mile). Barnicle was 15 seconds behind Luke Puskedra (first American), and 5 seconds ahead of old rival Sean Quigley. You can see Barnicle, in black New Balance singlet,  just to the left of Puskedra (Oregon) in the photo above.

Great to see Chris running well.

What's the Matter with Kenya?

"We are ready for this Olympics and we are going for a record medal haul. I have the best team ever in Kenya's Olympics history. That is what we are looking at. At least 12 gold medals, including the elusive 10,000m men's title. As for the overall medal tally, you can multiply that by three."

- Kenyan Coach Julius Kirwa, August 1, 2012

Only a week ago, Kenya looked forward to the start of Olympic Track & Field competition confident in their talent, their preparations, and their place as one of the dominant countries in the sport of middle and long distance running. Seven days later and halfway through the program of distance events, the Kenyan men and women are falling short of their (admittedly) ambitious goals. There is talk of gloom in the Kenyan camp. Is it fair to say that Kenya is struggling?

The Kenyan men were shut out in the both the 10K (5th, 12th, and a DNF) and the 1500 (7th, 11th, and last), events in which the U.S. got two silver medals. A gold and bronze in the steeple helped. It would have been a national tragedy not to win the steeple.

As for the Kenyan women, Priscah's Jeptoo's silver in the marathon and a silver and bronze in the 10,000m (behind the gold-medal efforts of Ethiopian runners in both events) have been better. However, I can't be the only one shocked that Mary Keitany failed to medal in the marathon, and it was disappointing that the Kenyan women were shut out in the steeple.

The bottom line is that after six distance events, Kenya still leads the distance medal count with one gold, two silvers, and two bronzes. Ethiopia has two golds and two bronzes. No other country has more than two medals in these events.

And Kenya certainly has great chances for medals in the men's 800 (Rudisha!), 5000, and marathon, and in the women's 800, 1500, and 5000. I wonder, though, whether the semi-malaise will affect the once invincible Kenyan men in the marathon. The selection process for the marathon was bizarre and of necessity eliminated potential medal winners from the Kenyan team. Will the three runners who made the cut redeem the country's reputation?

Meanwhile, after Leo Manzano's miracle silver in the 1500, the U.S. with two medals hungry for more. The men's marathon would be a long shot, but the U.S. seems to have decent chances for  medals in the men's 5000m and women's 1500 and 800.

Will the U.S. continue to exceed expectations? Will Kenya regain its form? Next up for the d/mid-d crowd is the men's 800 on Thursday. Does anyone doubt that Rudisha will get Kenya back on track?

Suhr Beats Isinbayeva at Last

Four years earlier in Beijing conditions had been ideal for the women's pole vault final. It had been warm with a slight tailwind -- perfect conditions for the most technically perfect vaulter in history. On that evening, Elena Isinbayeava had won her second Olympic gold medal, clearing 5.05 (16-6.75).

American Jenn Stuczynski couldn't match Isinbayeva's vault and settled for the silver medal. At that point, the American public probably expected a happy Stuczynski to smile and wave and enjoy finishing second to the world record holder. But instead of celebrating, Stuczynski and her coach Rick Suhr allowed the media and the American public to see their disappointment. The coach, in particular, looked less than thrilled. To viewers, it looked and sounded like Suhr was callously criticizing Stuczynski in a vulnerable moment.

---

Stuczynski grew up in Fedonia, NY, and excelled at multiple sports, including softball, basketball, soccer, and track and field. She attended Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY, and graduated in 2004 as the team's all-time leading scorer. It was also in 2004 -- the year in which Isinbayeva won her first gold medal at the Athens Olympics -- that Stuczynski was introduced to pole vaulting, under the guidance of coach Rick Suhr.

Ten months after taking up the event, Stuczynski won the U.S. Indoor champiponships, vaulting 4.35 (14-3). In the next eight years, she would win four more U.S. indoor championships and six U.S. outdoor championships. She dominated vaulting in the U.S., but always came up just short at the world level, with a world indoor championships silver  to go along with that Olympic silver medal from Beijing.

In 2010, Stuczynski and Suhr were married. In spite of injuries and health setbacks, the two of them continued to prepare for another shot at the sport's greatest prize. Suhr trained in a rough facility at her home where, she says, it was drafty and cold most of the time and where the runway was uphill. Before leaving for the London Games she had some of the best training of her life, clearing 16-1, uphill runway and all. All that she needed was crappy weather in London.

On Monday night in London. it was cool and the wind was swirling. After the competition was over, Isinbayeva would say, "The conditions were terrible... As the competition went on, it became more of a mess, so difficult. I was sitting there thinking, 'I wanted this to be over with as soon as possible.'"

Of the twelve finalists, seven failed to clear 4.55 and were done. Suhr entered at that height and cleared it on her first attempt. The only others to clear 4.55 were Germany's Silke Spiegelburg and Martina Stritz, and Cuba's Yarisley Silva, although both Silva and Strutz had misses at a lower height, putting them behind. Isinbayeva missed her first attempt at 4.55 and passed to the next height..

At 4.65, Isinbaeva, Silva, and Spiegelburg cleared. Suhr decided to pass to 4.70, meaning that as the bar was raised, she was only in fourth, out of the medals with conditions deteriorating. 

As a light rain began to fall and the winds continued to swirl, Suhr, Silva, and Isinbayeva all cleared 4.70 on their first attempts. Strutz went out, and Spiegelburg missed her first attempt and elected to pass to 4.75, the height that would decide the medals.With Isinbayeva trying to stay warm by hiding under a blanket, Suhr and Silva both cleared 4.75 on their second attempts. Spiegelburg and Isinbayeva would fail, with Isinbayeva getting the bronze.

It only remained to see whether Suhr or Silva could clear 4.80. None of the attempts from either vaulter were close.

After an eight year journey, the tough woman from Fredonia had won the gold medal. It seems that all those training sessions in a rude Quonset hut that Suhr calls "Rocky's Meat Locker" had prepared her for the hardships of London. Isinbayeva summed it up: "Psychologically, I was completely empty and didn’t want to jump anymore. Jenn wasn’t like that. She was like, 'Grrrrr!' She deserved to win."

Olympic 10K: Farah, Rupp get Gold, Silver

There are a lot of great races that hum with drama and excitement, but that leave the established world order firmly in place. The 2012 Olympic 10,000m in London was not one of them.

Instead, in the final flat-out 400 meters, most of what we had come to expect as inevitable in the realm of championship distance running was overturned. Mo Farah, one of Britain's great hope in the Games, endured the bumps and changes of pace throughout the unevenly paced run, took the lead with about 500m to go, closed in 53-something for the final lap, and became the first-ever runner from Great Britain to win 10K gold.

Farah's training partner, Galen Rupp, ran brilliantly and only a few tenths slower over that final lap, moving from fourth to second and taking the Silver. Rupp, the Oregon kid who somehow has never been taken entirely seriously as a great runner, became the first U.S. man to medal in the 10K since Billy Mills in 1964, and the first non-African-born man to medal since Salvatore Antibo in 1988.

Behind Rupp and Farah, a trail of disappointment. Keninisa Bekele, the four-time world champion, two-time defending Olympic champion, and perhaps the greatest 10K runner teh world has ever seen, finished a beaten fourth and out of the medals. Not only was it the first time he had ever lost a 10,000m race he had finished, he also surrendered the bronze to his younger brother, Tariku, who looked absolutely crestfallen to make the podium ahead of Keninisa.

The Kenyan men also looked well-beaten, with Bedan Micheri 5th, Moses Ndiema Masai 12th, and pre-race medal hope Wilson Kiprop a DNF.

With that last lap, American distance running (and coaching!) suddenly seemed to become world-class again. All of a sudden anything seemed the possible. A medal in the 5000m? Yes! ...maybe two!! A medal in the steeplechase or 1500? Why not?!

As the final 200 of the race was unfolding, I was screaming for Rupp to go past Mucheri and then Bekele -- and when, incredibly, he did that, then I was just screaming. Afterwards, the phone started ringing and I found myself talking deliriously to family and friends who had also spent the last few minutes screaming at their TVs. It reminded me of what it was like when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004; we all couldn't wait to talk to other people about how we had just seen the world change before our eyes.

Pat Porter: 1959-2012

 In 1984 the U.S. Cross Country Championships were held at Franklin Park in Boston. Several runners from my club were volunteers, helping to set up and then monitor parts of the course. There are two things I remember clearly about that day: before the races, everyone was talking about Saturday's football game and how BC's Doug Flutie had beaten Miami with a Hail Mary pass as time ran out. After the races, everyone was talking about the dominant running of Pat Porter.

Yesterday I read the sad news that Porter, along with two others, had been killed when their small plane crashed shortly after taking off from an airport in Sedona, Arizona. Porter was 53.
 
Pat Porter was one of the most impressive cross-country runners I have ever seen. The normal challenges of maintaining pace over rugged terrain didn't seem to apply to him. He was tall and thin, with immensely powerful strides that created the illusion of barely touching the ground.

Porter was known as one of the toughest competitors in U.S. distance running history. He attended attended Div II Adams State in Alamosa, Colorado, where he trained with Coach Joe Vigil. He graduated in 1982 and in the fall of that year, won the first of what would be eight consecutive U.S. cross-country championships.

At the World Cross Country Championships, Porter finished in the top ten five separate times, including a 4th place in 1984.

Porter made two Olympic teams (1984 and 1988), but his most memorable "Olympic" experience might well have been playing the great Finnish runner Lasse Viren in the film "Without Limits." The film depicts the final of the 5000m at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where Viren (Porter) outkicks Steve Prefontaine (Billy Crudup) and the rest of the field to win the Gold Medal. As I watched the clip below, it seemed to me that Porter's most difficult acting challenge was not making that winning kick look too easy.

Jampol on the 10 Most Memorable Moments in (Recent) Olympic History

NNHS alum and featured columnist Noah Jampol does a fantastic job giving us his Most Memorable Moments in Olympic History on Bleacher Report this week.

From Michael Johnson's WR in the 200m at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta to Derek Redmond's heartbreaking completion of his 400 semi-final on a shredded hamstring in the 1992 Games, Noah captures the drama and the lasting impact of these indelible moments.

Among these stories, none dates from before 1968, but that's not a criticism. There are too many stories to tell, and it must have been hard to pick only ten from the last 44 years.

We'll have to wait to read Noah's retelling of how barefooted Abebe Bikila outran the world's best marathoners through the streets of Rome in 1960, how Billy Mills pulled the upset of the century in the Tokyo 10,000m, and how Jesse Owens demolished the myth of Aryan supremacy in Berlin in 1936. 

We'll try to be patient.

Hope as Big as the Sea

Ruben Sanca winning the 2011 New Bedford Half-Marathon

I've made no secret of the fact that I have -- shall we say -- a strained relationship with media coverage of the Olympics. As the vast machine kicks into full gear, and as the official sponsors begin their relentless assault on my weak and impressionable mind, I adopt a defense of  mocking cynicism. Mindful of past Olympiads and remembering how I was manipulated into watching hours and hours of commercials to see a few seconds of over-promoted action at the end of an otherwise forgettable broadcast, I adopt an attitude of casual apathy. Sure, I'll follow the Olympics -- if I have nothing better to do.

But I also know that deep down, hidden away where the advertising executives can't get at it, there's some small part of me that wants to believe that the Olympics is more than a media mega-event and money-making machine. That part of me says, "If the Olympics are to stand for something, let them stand for the ideal of human aspiration -- the idea that striving with others against one's own limitations is more important than conquering." It's a principle always in danger of being lost in the inevitable sea of money and hype as well-known, well-supported athletes representing their shoe companies as well as their countries "go for the gold."

So I was delighted to hear Bill Littlefield's Only a Game profile of Ruben Sanca, who will be representing Cape Verde in the 5000 meters at the London Olympics. Even for those of us who have admired Ruben since his high school days at John D. O'Bryant school in Boston, and followed him as he became an All-American distance runner at UMass Lowell and, after graduation, one of the top road runners in New England, hearing his story is an antidote to any cynicism about the value of the Olympics.

http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2012/07/14/ruben-sanca
 
As reported in Littlefield's story,

"Sanca, now 25, moved from Cape Verde to Massachusetts when he was 12. He has dual citizenship, but when returned to Cape Verde to compete in the 5000 meters at the national championships, his welcome was muted. "Several of my friends from home had forgotten about me, because they never thought of [me] as a runner," Sanca said. "I was born with asthma, and the first few years of my life was a hardship for my family because I was in and out of the hospital at all times, and I was sort of known as the weak child of the family, so after I came to the U.S. and went back home and won a national championship there, people were very surprised."

Now Sanca is an Olympian. He has a 5000m PR of 13:56.46 (indoors). He holds eight Cape Verde national records at various distances. He says he is running to inspire the next generation of Cape Verdeans to dream bigger, and to follow where he has led. Does he stand a chance against the best in the world? It's not the right question. The right question is does he belong in the Olympic stadium on the starting line with The Kenyans, Ethiopians, Rupp, Farah, and all the rest? Without a doubt.

There's nothing wrong with celebrating the winners at the Olympics, some of them heavy favorites who earn their gold medal with a demonstration of their athletic superiority and some long shots, who give the performance of their lives at exactly the right time. Watching the best athletes in the world is almost always thrilling. But for me, one of the best things about the games is cheering for the athletes who have little to no chance of a medal, or indeed, of making it to the finals. They are often the ones with the more interesting and inspirational journeys, the ones who represent -- and engender -- a hope that shines with or without a medal.

Lucas Heartbreak; Rupp Outkicks Lagat!

Women's 5000m

One of the hardest, cruelest things to be seen in Track and Field is "the stagger," that agonizing nightmare in which the body gives out before the race is over. With only a few meters to go the runner appears to be moving in slow-motion, the muscles in near paralysis, the once smooth and powerful form reduced to a parody of running.

In last night's 5000m final, Julia Lucas pushed the pace from 1200m out, running consecutive sub-70 laps and building a lead that looked like it guaranteed her a spot on the team. Alas, in hindsight her move was tragically mis-timed. With 400 to go, she still held a 1.5-second lead on second place and nearly 5 seconds on fourth place, but the hard move from so far out had taken its toll and she didn't have another gear. Molly Huddle and Julie Culley caught her with 200m to go and she tried but failed to fall in with their acceleration. Meanwhile, Dartmouth's Abbey D'Agostino was in fourth and closing. Behind D'Agostino, Kim Conley was running well, but was another two seconds back. Neither chaser had the Olympic A standard.

All Lucas needed to do was hang on. Even if she slowed a bit, it seemed inconceivable that she could a) be caught and b) that if caught, her pursuers would meet the A standard. But with 100 to go, Lucas was done. There was no lift in her stride, nothing more to give to the effort. Later she would describe the final meters as if she were running underwater. Losing ground with every labored step, it suddenly looked like D'Agostino could pull of the impossible and get third. But it was Conley. coming from fifth place who was running the best.

In the final few meters as Lucas staggered to the line, Conley sprinted past D'Agostino, leaned, and edged Lucas by 0.04. Her late charge also brought her just under the Olympic A standard, earning her place on the team.

D'Agostino, the twenty-year-old Massachusetts native and graduate of Masconomet H.S. has been an incredible story this year, winning the NCAA championship a couple of weeks ago and PR'ing again in Eugene. She continued to add to her credentials with her fifth place -- also under the A standard and within two-tenths of a second of an Olympic berth.

In her press conference Julia Lucas talked about "giving the race away," but in retrospect, it was as simple and as heart-breaking at starting a 1000-meter kick with 1200 meters to go. The finish line photo is hard to view without reliving the agony of those last few meters.

Men's 5000m

Did Oregon's new favorite son, Galen Rupp, know what he was doing in the 5000m final, jogging lap after lap of the Hayward Field track in the company of Bernard Lagat and Lopez Lomong? Galen, you realize these guys have Olympic 1500m caliber kicks, right?

The three favorites were in front with a lap to go, having run a modest 12:30 for the first 4600m. Rupp took the lead and pushed the accelerator to the floor, knowing it would be a total commitment all the way to the finish line. Lagat and Lomong kept pace, and then around the final curve, Lagat pulled up to Rupp's shoulder, and then went ahead coming off the final turn.

If it were last year, Lagat wins this race. But this year's Rupp is scary fit, and against Lagat the consummate kicker, Rupp pulled a Centrowitz, fought back, and re-passed on the inside, hitting the line in 13:22.67.

With that 52 last lap, Rupp won his second event of the Trials, broke a 40-year-old Trials record set by Steve Prefontaine, broke an 0-12 losing streak against Lagat, and provided the latest evidence that he's a real medal threat at London.

Race video from NBC

Trials and Tribulations

As the U.S. Olympic Trials resume after a two-day hiatus, I've been thinking about how the Trials meet often turns out to be "better" than the Olympics themselves. I don't mean better in the sense that the performances will be better or that the athletes are superior, I mean better in the sense of being more dramatic and emotionally compelling, producing outcomes that you want to talk about for days or weeks afterwards when you're no longer sitting in front of the T.V. watching it all unfold in real time.

As an example, at our track workout on Tuesday evening, a spirited discussion broke out about whether Shalane Flanagan showed good sportsmanship by taking the lead and slowing the pace to allow her teammate Lisa Uhl to make contact with the pack after falling back to tie a shoelace. Of course this action didn't help those who, like Natasha Roegers, were chasing the Olympic A standard. From the women's 10K, we went on to talk about Curtis Beach, Alan Webb, Galen Rupp, Ritz, Allyson Felix, etc., etc. The point is that these trials have already produced human stories more interesting than most reality shows.

Ever since Aeschylus and the ancient Greeks we've known that the most compelling formula for drama is to place human beings in near-impossible situations and watch them suffer and self-destruct, or at best endure.

As the stakes grow higher and the strain increases, most of us -- and the athletes at the trials are no exception -- have a hard time maintaining our carefully controlled manners and begin revealing the turmoil within. Sometimes what is revealed is not flattering; sometimes it's poignant and heart-wrenching.

How great was it to see Ritz make the team in the 10K after finishing fourth in the trials? How painful was it to see Alan Webb struggle home last in the 1500? Did Bumbalough behave badly in the 5000 heats? Did Rupp? Should Jeremy Wariner have spoken to the media after failing to make the team in the 400? Under the stress, they all seem flawed and all-too-human.

I might be wrong (I hope I am), but I don't think I'll feel the same way about London. Making the team is such an accomplishment in itself, that not winning a medal or not making the finals of the Olympics seems like a misfortune or missed opportunity, but not a tragedy. I have the feeling that not making the team is much, much worse.

So... back to the meet in a few hours. There's so much more drama left. heck, we still don't know who's on the team in the women's 100. Far from being incidental, our experience watching how the athletes handle the stress -- how they show good or bad sportsmanship, how they handle failure or success -- is what keeps us emotionally involved in the outcome, providing us with catharsis.

They're not called trials for nothing.

Ashton Eaton WR in Decathlon Highlights Incredible First Two Days at U.S. Olympic Trials

The 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials keep getting better... and stranger.

On Saturday, Ashton Eaton completed one of the greatest decathlons in history, setting a new world record of 9039 (the old record was Roman Seberle's 9026 from 2001).

Meanwhile, confusion reigned after the women's 100m as Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix were given the same time (11.068) and place (3rd) in the final event of the evening.

Eaton Dominates

Eaton's performances in the sprint events were unworldly. He opened the competition on Friday with a 10.21 100m -- a personal best and the fastest the event has ever been run in a decathlon.

In the very next event -- the long jump -- Eaton soared 8.23m (27-0) on his first attempt, another personal best. More remarkably, it matched the 10th best mark in the WORLD this year. In two events, Eaton had amassed 2164 points and had a 242-point lead over two-time world champion Trey Hardee.

After a serviceable shot put (one of his weakest events), Eaton won the high jump with a leap of 2.05m (5 centimeters off his personal best) and finished Day 1 by winning the 400m in 46.70. Both events were likely hampered by the heavy rain that fell into the evening in Eugene. Nevertheless, heading into the second day of competition, Eaton had 4728 points and a 300-point lead.

Day 2 started quietly for Eaton. He edged Hardee by 0.01 in the 110 hurdles as the two continued to pull away from the rest of the field. (It was in this event that defending Olympic Champ Bryan Clay's chances appeared to vanish; he finished in 16.81 and was initially DQ'd for pushing over the last hurdle. Eventually the DQ would be reversed, but the poor performance and a subsequent foul in the discus doomed his bid to make the team.)

In the discus, Eaton had a decent throw, but Hardee was much better, gaining 129 points on the leader. But from that point forward, it was all Eaton. He won (and PR'd) in the pole vault with a jump of 5.30, and followed that with a PR in the javelin. At this point the U.S title was a foregone conclusion. But there was another goal.

Needing to run 4:16 to break Seberle's world record, Eaton ran a four-second PR of 4:14. To put that in perspective, he had improved his 1500 PR a grand total of two seconds in the last three years, but improved it by four seconds with the record on the line. In a classy move, the fastest man in the field, Curtis Beach, eased up at the end of the race so that Eaton would cross the line first.

Tarmoh, Felix Tie for Final Spot in 100m

An unprecedented result in the women's 100 overshadowed Carmelita Jeter's win and Tiana Madison's second place. After initially declaring that Jeneba Tarmoh had edged Allyson Felix for third, review of finish-line photos showed that the two training partners had finished in a dead heat.

As of this writing, nobody seems to know how to select the third athlete for the Olympic team, or when such a decision will be made.

Uncool: How NBC Makes Track and Field Dull

Here we are, only a few hours away from the start of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials for Track and Field; in a rational world, I would be clearing my schedule to watch as much of the T.V. coverage as possible. Instead, I'm preparing to be disappointed yet again by NBC and it's "No Bleeping Clue" approach to the sport I love.

Am I being harsh? Let me illustrate what's wrong with NBC's coverage by telling you what I've learned from the high school kids that I coach. I should tell you that most of the kids who join the track team at CA aren't very familiar with the sport. They rarely pay attention to what other high schoolers are doing, and very few of them follow the sport at the college or professional levels.

At some point I decided that it was one of my responsibilities to remedy this situation by introducing them to the wider world of Track and Field. With that goal never far from my mind, I took to starting practices with a short video -- to share with them some of the great moments in Track and Field history. It's interesting and sometimes surprising to see their reactions. Sometimes they are totally into it, bursting into applause at the finish of a close race; sometimes they are left unmoved. Over the last couple of years, I feel like I've developed a pretty good sense of what appeals to teenagers who would never consider themselves hard core fans, and who have probably never watched a track meet on TV.

A few weeks ago I watched NBC's coverage of the 2012 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, one of the finest track meets in the world. The next week I watched the same network cover the Adidas Meet in New York. The coverage of both meets was horrible, as usual. Truly, NBC has perfected the art of ruining a track meet for the passionate fan, and one can almost admire the thorough way they go about it.

It starts with hiring the same old mediocre talent to do the play-by-play, and letting that talent focus on a single athlete while ignoring all the others, including (often) the eventual winner. Another technique is to interrupt any race longer than four minutes for commercials and promos for other NBC programs, or simply not show the longer races at all. Dwight Stones gives a ten-second summary of the field events using clips that are usually totally devoid of drama or suspense. Finally, the whole thing is treated as merely a warmup for the Olympics. After watching for ninety minutes, I swear never to watch an NBC broadcast again, since it's blatantly an exercise in network self-promotion.

Usually, when I get angry about coverage of Track and Field and start yelling at the TV, I get no sympathy. My wife says that I'm out of touch with what normal people think, that only get-a-life runners like me care about Galen Rupp breaking 13:00 for the first time, or decathlete Ashton Eaton competing in the hurdles, or Allyson Felix needing to get out of that speed suit, for god's sake (has there been anything worse for track and field than that?)... Normal people don't care, she says, and those are the people who will be watching the Olympics. To this observation I have rarely had a coherent answer.

But now thanks to my team, I have the opinions of dozens of kids who don't obsess about runners and times, who don't know or care who won what race in Beijing or Berlin or Daegu. The kids at CA are my focus group, and I trust their responses to televised track and field more than my own. You know what they like? I'll tell you what they like.

They like close races where the runners are trying really hard and no one knows who's going to win, and everyone has a chance. They like to see tension building over the course of a race, whether it's a short race or a long one. Most of all, they love to hear the announcers get excited, REALLY excited. That's the one thing that always, ALWAYS makes a video interesting to them -- when the announcers are going nuts and screaming and acting as though what's happening on the track or in the field is the most amazing thing that's ever happened.

What makes it cool, is when the announcers lose their cool.

My kids' all-time favorite videos include Chris Solinksy (Beast Mode!) running sub-27:00 at Stanford in 2010. In that video, the Flotrack guys who are announcing the race can't believe what's happening, and their excitement and that of the crowd is electric.

Chris Solinsky - Beast Mode

The CA kids also like Billy Mills winning the 10K gold in Tokyo ("Look at Mills! Look at Mills!!). Another favorite is Dave Wottle winning the 800 gold in Munich (which has a spectacular fall at the end -- they also like to see people fall). By the way, even though I don't think Jim McKay is a brilliant broadcaster, he manages to mention most of the runners in the race by name. NBC never does that.

Compared with these gems, or virtually ANY British telecast, NBC's coverage is monotonic and monothematic, never rising to a level that could be called genuine excitement. NBC's announcers treat every race like it's just a time trial for the runners to feel good about themselves. With the exception of one or two pre-selected favorites, NBC treats most of the competitors as though they were cardboard props, and they don't bother to learn their names or their stories. Fundamentally, NBC sucks at making races seem cool. Most of their announcers don't know how to express passion (if they feel it at all). It's infuriating to watch a great race through the eyes of someone who can't be bothered to get excited about the runners in the race, and how they got there, and how they suffer, and how they triumph in the end or fail. All NBC wants to do is develop their preconceived story lines and tout some meet two weeks or two months hence. That's all that matters to them.

Before watching the Pre Classic, I was wishing I had told my kids to watch it. After watching, I'm glad I didn't risk all my credibility by telling them it would be exciting. Based on how it was called, it was about as exciting as a commercial for Geritol.

Now, with the Trials about to start, I'm preparing to be disappointed again. I have no confidence that NBC will make my viewing experience a pleasant one. It's true, I'm just a get-a-life runner, out of touch with the general Olympics-watching public. But for every one of me, there are thirty kids who would watch track if it was cool, if it had passion, and if it were presented to them by guides who got so into it that sometimes they lost their reserve, shouted, screamed, and laughed in amazement at the miraculous events unfolding in front of them.

The Stealthy Greatness of Josh Lampron

There he was, sitting in perfect position on the shoulder of the leader with 100 meters to go in the deepest H.S. mile race in history. At that moment Mansfield senior Josh Lampron looked poised to win the Boys dream mile at the Adidas Grand Prix Meet. But on this day, the honor would go to another. As Lampron later described it, he "rigged up" in that final straight and wasn't able to accelerate, hanging on for third in a personal best 4:02.98.

Race Video

That Lampron, the defending national champion, would be in position to win against such a talented field was no surprise. Earlier this season, he ran 3:45.74 for 1500, the fastest high school 1500 in the nation this year and one of the top 20 times in history. In the three weeks prior to the Adidas meet, Lampron had doubled three times in the 800/mile, first at the Hockomock league meet (1:53.89/4:23.98), then at the EMass Div. II Championships (1:52.03/4:09.59), and finally at the Mass. State Championships (1:51.99/4:07.88).

It was, perhaps, that effort at the State Championships that dulled his kick at the Adidas meet. Originally scheduled for Saturday, June 2nd, the meet was twice postponed and finally held on Tuesday, June 5th. Lampron was pushed hard in both his races. In the 800, he had to overcome a challenge from three-time state 600 champ Andre Rolim (1:53.38). His effort in the 800 broke a state meet record that had stood for 37 years. In the mile, Lampron faced what was arguably the deepest field in Mass. state meet history (eight runners under 4:20), and in particular, Marshfield's Joel Hubbard, who ran 4:09.27 and posed the toughest challenge. After that double, he had only three days to recover for the Adidas meet... but he also had the satisfaction that he had helped his team win another State Championship.

But for all the achievements, state championships, and national reputation, it seems to me that Josh Lampron has been a "quiet" talent. Unlike other Massachusetts mid-distance greats (Riley, Powell, Gras, Barnicle, Amirault, e.g.), Lampron was never dominant in cross country. He didn't run in the state XC meet as a sophomore, finished eighth as a junior, and didn't run as senior due to injury. In track, he was a relative late bloomer. As a sophomore, he made the state meet in the 800m, but finished 18th in 1:59.69. If there was anyone who foresaw that one year later he would win a national title in the mile, I'd like to know who that was.

And now Lampron has one meet left in his high school career -- outdoor nationalsUSATF juniors, where he has to be considered one of the favorites in the 1500m. With a few more days rest, I hope he hits that last straightaway with legs ready to kick for the win. Should he get it, it will be a remarkable achievement for someone who didn't really emerge until his junior year.

Josh, we hardly knew ye.

Interview with Mike Burnstein, Co-Founder of Janji

Dave Spandorfer and Mike Burnstein -- co-founders of Janji

Mike Burnstein (Brookline H.S., Class of ’08) is one of the most accomplished distance runners to come out of Brookline’s renowned program. A recent graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Mike earned multiple Div III All-American honors in both Track and Cross Country there.

Beyond his athletic accomplishments, Mike is also co-founder (with friend and teammate Dave Spandorfer) of Janji, a running apparel company whose mission is to raise awareness and fund relief efforts to help address issues of food security and access to clean drinking water. Their clothing uses designs based on the flags of countries with urgent food and water crises; with every item sold, Janji directs a portion of their profits to relief organizations in that country.

Mike will be hosting a Boston launch party for Janji at Marathon Sports in Brookline on Tuesday evening, June 12th at 7:00 p.m. Mike also agreed to an interview, to discuss how and why he started Janji.

---

Jon: Welcome, Mike, and congratulations – I understand you just graduated from the Washington University, right?

Mike: Right.

Jon: What was your major?

Mike: I majored in Urban Studies and minored in Entrepreneurship.

Jon: When did you have the idea that you might want to start a business?

Mike: In 2010 -- the spring of my sophomore year – I came up with the idea for Janji while talking with my teammate and current co-founder Dave Spandorfer. We were on the bus to Track nationals at the time. Before then I hadn't considered a career in business, but the basic idea for Janji inspired me to get into it.

Jon: What is the basic idea of Janji?

Mike: Janji is a running apparel brand dedicated to fighting the Global Food and Water Crisis. Each piece of apparel is designed after a country's flag and each sale funds organizations in that country that are working on alleviating issues of food security and access to clean drinking water.

Jon: You’ve chosen to focus on running apparel, and it seems to me that the Janji message resonates especially with runners. Do you find that to be true? What kind of reactions do you get from runners when they hear about your company?

Mike: One of the amazing things about our sport is that the only equipment you need is a pair of shorts and a pair of shoes (and sometimes you can do without the shoes). Some of the best runners in the world come from rural areas with few modern resources. But two things that everyone needs to run successfully are proper nutrition and adequate hydration. A lot of runners tell me they feel they’ve taken those two things for granted -- in relation to running and life as a whole. Runners, more than most groups, recognize the importance of nutrition and hydration, and that inspired us to build Janji around that cause specifically.

Jon: On your web site you write that that in spite of efforts to address the crisis in providing food and drinking water to underdeveloped countries, the problem has actually gotten worse over the last ten years. It seems that additional funding, while welcome, can’t be the only answer.

Mike: One of the scariest things about the Food and Water Crisis is that it occurs silently. Childhood malnutrition was extremely prevalent in Haiti well before the earthquake in 2010 made the problems there visible to the world. Our goal at Janji is to create increased awareness for problems related to food and water through our distinctive apparel. We hope that runners continue to act as advocates for the cause beyond their apparel choices.

Jon: How does Janji make sure that money from apparel sales is directed toward the efforts and organizations with the best chance of making a difference?

Mike: We do what we can to directly impact the international crisis by funding organizations who are the best at what they do. We find organizations who don't just hand out food or water on a short term basis, but who use a systemic approach. They also need to be able to prove that their methods are successful over a long period of time. Right now we are working with Meds & Food for Kids (MFK) in Haiti (www.mfkhaiti.org), which produces peanut butter based nutritional medicine to children, and KickStart in Kenya (www.kickstart.org), which subsidizes sustainable water pumps for Kenyan farmers.

Jon: If runners want to get involved beyond buying the apparel, does Janji help them do that?

Mike: We’re not experts in public health, so we can’t recommend how to take action directly. However, promoting our partners is a really important part of our mission. MFK is currently building a new factory which will increase their capacity from 8,000 children served to 80,000! They need some help funding the construction efforts, and we encourage Janji runners to help contribute and help make the project possible. Janji can have a huge impact with direct funding, but I hope it’s only a small part of the total pie of what our community can accomplish as a whole.

Jon: I'm curious about the name of your company. Does that word have special significance to you or to Dave?

Mike: It does. "Janji" is the Malay word for "promise" or “commitment” and it relates directly to our company's mission. Janji's promise is to unite the running community in an effort to combat food insecurity and unsafe water conditions.

Jon: The Boston launch party for Janji is on Tuesday, June 12 at the Marathon Sports Brookline store. Is this open to anyone? What should people expect if they show up?

Mike: Yes! It should be an exciting night. Anybody can come -- the more the merrier. It'll be a fun social gathering where we will unveil Janji to the Boston running community. Haitian food will be served, in addition to drinks and snacks. Dave and I will speak for a few minutes and introduce the story and concept of Janji to the guests.

Jon: Before I let you go, I want to ask you about your own running. A few weeks ago you competed at NCAA Div III nationals in the 10000m and finished 8th, earning All-American honors. Congratulations! What’s next for you, or does running a company mean less time for actual running?

Mike: Thanks! Unfortunately I'm pretty much hooked on running and will probably be a runner for life, as long as I can stay healthy. I want to stay competitive and move up in distance to the marathon. I was really lucky to have great teams to train and compete with in high school and college, so I know it'll be tough to transition away from that community. It’s so much easier getting up in the morning for a long run, or kick the last lap of a tough 10k, when you know that your teammates are counting on you. One of the reasons we founded Janji was to give runners everywhere that extra motivation, to know you're running for more than just yourself.

Jon: Best of luck to Janji, and to you, Mike. You've had incredible success as a runner, and I hope that success continues, and translates to success in your business and humanitarian efforts.

Mike: Thanks Jon! See you at the launch?

Jon: I’ll try to make it!

Toni Reavis in Hell

An unseasonably warm day brought Boston Marathon times crashing back to earth -- did we only dream that someone ran 2:03:02 last year? -- and set the stage for all sorts of dramatic reversals in this year's race. University of Louisville alum Wesley Korir avoided suicidal mid-race surges and moved from sixth to first over the final miles, overtaking Levy Matebo at last to win the men's race. Sharon Cherop waited patiently for 25.9 miles and then made one decisive move to pull away from Jemima Sumgong for victory in the women's race.

This year, I tried to follow all of these developments by staying glued to WBZ coverage of the race on TV. It was a mixed experience. On the plus side, the split screen and earnest attempts to keep a camera on at least one of the lead packs at all times were much appreciated. On the minus side, other than Toni Reavis, the commentators were typically inane and annoying.

Mr. Reavis, for nearly 30 years a passionate promoter of, and expert analyst for the sport of distance running, was rarely given an opportunity to explain what was going on, and when he did, he was usually ignored or interrupted. If you felt pity for the runners as they plodded along in the heat, I hope you also had charitable thoughts for the lifelong expert who sat surrounded by clueless colleagues, having so much to say but no one, apparently, to listen.

For example, Reavis tried more than once to put the dire warnings about the heat in perspective, comparing 2012 to other notable hot days at Boston. But the heat was THE story and any suggestion that there had been worse days for running were not particularly welcome. While I did truly feel sorry for the runners who had hoped for a cooler and faster day, I wondered if it might not be even worse to be exposed to the non-stop chatter about the heat, including endless admonitions to use their "get out of Boston free" card and wait until 2013 or the next chilly Patriots Day.

In the final results, only 427 people chose not to run and accept a deferment until next year (when it will probably be 90 degrees). And in the end, approximately 95% of those who started the race finished. So it was a hot day and a tough race, but survivable.

But back to Reavis: here is a guy with a profound passion for running who is also intelligent and articulate. He prepares for his broadcasts by becoming familiar with all of the contenders. He draws on a wealth of knowledge and experience as a runner himself, as a writer, as an analyst. he has been to Kenya and Ethiopia to see how the East African athletes live and train. He has shouted himself hoarse trying to get his audience to appreciate the immensity of what they are seeing, as he famously did in the final stages of the 2010 Chicago Marathon. (Watch the clip again - you'll get chills.)



But in the WBZ broadcast, Reavis was the third or fourth option for comments, usually given a few seconds for a word or two before another commercial break. His insights were clearly a lower priority than the "play-by-play" chatter, Katherine Switzer's comments, and the finish line interviews ("what was it that allowed you to win this race?").

The runners suffered through Purgatorial fires, but for Reavis, it must have been Hell.

Mayanja (59-6) Places 4th at NBIN

Newton North senior Swardic Mayanja had a huge throw on his third attempt, a bomb that sailed 18.13m (59-6.25) and earned him 4th place in the Shot Put at the New Balance Indoor Nationals Boys meet on Saturday.

After two throws, Mayanja was in serious danger of not making the finals at all. His only legal throw up to that point was a toss of 55-6, and that wouldn't be good enough. But he made the next one count, not only to make the finals, but to make All-American.

Newton North's sprint medley relay team also competed on Saturday. The quartet of Ryan Lucken, Nate Menninger, Daniel Swain, and Justin Keefe ran 3:37.36 for 14th overall.

Forbes (42-05.5!!) Wins Nat'l TJ Title

On her first jump of the competition at New Balance Indoor Nationals, Carla Forbes powered down the runway, hit the board, and then hopped, skipped, and jumped into the pit 42 feet 5 and a half inches later. It was a personal best and it would hold up through all six rounds. Forbes's second jump was also past 42 feet, but no one else came within a foot of that first mark, making the Newton North junior the national champion.

Perhaps there was extra motivation for Forbes, who "only" jumped 19-7 in the long jump final on Saturday. In that event, Forbes had slipped from second place after the 4th round to fifth place after the 6th and final round, an unusual experience for the perpetually clutch performer.

On Saturday, runners from Newton North (competing as Waltham TC) ran in the shuttle hurdle relay. The team of Kayla Wong, Steph Brown, Kayla Prior, and Forbes placed 10th overall with a time of 34.00.

2012 NBIN Results

NN Boys 4x200 Places 3rd in EE Race at 2012 NBIN

Friday was Day 1 of the New Balance High School Indoor Nationals, and Newton North's 4x200 team (Ryan Lucken, Nate Menninger, Shawn Seamans, and Daniel Swain) finished 3rd in the Emerging Elite division with a season's best time of 1:31.36.

Running in the last of eight sections, the Tigers finished in 2nd, only a tenth of a second behind a team from Virginia. The fastest time of the day came from an earlier section, leaving the Tigers 3rd overall.

The NN Boys are also entered in the Sprint Medley relay Saturday and the 4x400 relay on Sunday.

2012 NBIN Schedule and Results

NN Girls are 2012 All-State Champions;Wong, Forbes Set Records

Carla Forbes scored 18 points in the long jump and 55 dash, and Kayla Wong scored 11 in the long jump and 55 hurdles, and that would have been enough to get past Lincoln-Sudbury for the State Championship. However, the Tigers added points in the 600 (Meghan Bellerose, 8th), 300 (Maddie Nadeau, 6th), and won the 4x400 in a state-leading 3:56.77 to amass 41 points and pull away from L-S and everyone else for the title.

Although Forbes, Nadeau, and Bellerose are juniors and will be back, Coach Joe Tranchita went out of his way to praise the seniors on the team. He might specifically have been thinking of Wong, who ran a school record 8.13 in the 55 hurdles to place 3rd (behind an all-state record and first-ever sub 8.00 clocking of 7.98 from Brockton's Vanessa Clerveaux), and added a 17-2 long jump for 6th, and a leg on the winning relay.

As for Forbes, she set a new meet record and school record in the long jump, exceeding 20 feet with a monster leap of 20-01.25 (see video below). She nearly had another win in the 55 dash, but Attleboro's Briana Robitaille was 0.01 faster and Forbes had to settle for second.

In all, it was an incredible day to cap off an incredible season for the Tigers.
It was also great to see them sharing the spotlight with the boys team, who were co-champions with Mansfield. While the girls were favorites, and their meet didn't come down to the relay, they lived up to -- and exceeded -- the high expectations set for them, and that's perhaps the hardest thing to do.

Relays Propel NN Boys to State Championship

You can't make this stuff up.

With one event remaining, boys team scores at the 2012 Massachusetts All-State Indoor track Championships stood like this:

Lowell             24
Mansfield          24
Pembroke           24
Acton-Boxboro      20
Brookline          20
Catholic Memorial  19
Newton North       19

Lowell didn't have a team in the 4x400 -- they would have been one of the favorites except for the unfortunate finish in the Div I championships that eliminated their team. A-B, Mansfield, Newton North, and Pembroke all had very strong teams, and all were running together in the final heat.

For Newton North, it was pretty simple: win the race and there was a slim chance; anything less and there was none. Rising to the challenge, Jim Blackburn's boys took control of the race early, with Ryan Lucken, Shawn Seamons and Orion Wagner giving anchor Daniel Swain a lead heading into the final 400. But Acton-Boxboro's Brian Sommers came charging back and passed Swain, bidding to give A-B the title. Swain responded on the backstretch of the final lap, and powered home, as the Tigers finished in 3:24.34, the fastest time in the state this year. A-B hung on for 2nd in 3:25.65.

Newton North got an assist from Newton South -- the Lions finished 3rd, pushing Mansfield down to 4th and Pembroke to 6th. North's 10 points and Mansfield's 5 in the final event made them co-champions with 29 points each. A-B's 8 points left them one point back at, and Pembroke's 6th gave them 27 points, a point behind A-B. I can't ever remember a meet where the final standings were shuffled so thoroughly in the final seconds of the final race.

North was in position thanks to outstanding performances earlier in the meet. The Tigers got their first points of the day from Justin Keefe who took 6th place (2:32.35) in an absolutely loaded 1000m.

North got their only individual win of the day from All-State champion Swardick Mayanja, who spun his way to a personal best throw of 59-06.25, nearly four feet further than second place.

With two events left, North had 13 points and two strong relays. The 4x200 team did its job, with the quartet of Lucken, Nate Menninger, Swain, and Seamons running 1:32.00 to place 3rd, and set up the final dramatic 4x400.

2012 All-State Indoor Track Championships - Results
Coverage in Boston Globe
Coverage in Boston Herald
Coverage on MA Milesplit