The Injury: Part 4

(How long will this series last? We're past the halfway point, readers.)

When the body is in proper working order -- when all the muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, sheaths, fascia, and miscellaneous gristle are untroubled by tears, pulls, strains, inflammation, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to; when all the nerves are firing harmoniously to maintain order and balance; when the heart is keeping time with measured beats, and the arteries are carrying gloriously oxygenated blood through miles and miles of well-maintained capillaries; and when the whole system is fed and happy and allowed to rest once in a while -- then running seems like the most natural and simple thing in the world. You just go out there and do it. When you get tired, you stop. When your muscles ache, you go easy for a few days. In short, running happens without much external effort or strife.

But let one thing go awry and there is kinesthetic hell to pay. Let one strand of tissue give out and tear, and that tear affects a muscle that you've never heard of, and that muscular discomfort causes a slight and almost unconscious compensation in an otherwise fluid stride, and that compensation leads to different patterns of stress and wear that bring secondary injuries. The fluid stride goes slightly out of tune, and the effort becomes too conscious of itself. The simple act of running becomes... puzzling.

At the beginning of April, I was frankly puzzled.

Was I injured or wasn't I? Was I sick or tired or what? Every day, I could imitate the running motion rather convincingly, and any outside observer would guess that I was just as happy (or just as unhappy) as all the other plodders clogging the streets and sidewalks of the metropolis. But every step Was uncomfortable, and the way I did it, it didn't feel like running. It felt like penance. But I wasn't sure exactly what I had done wrong, and when my debt would be paid.

In April, I turned a corner in my attitude from trying to continue to training to trying to broaden my perspective on this thing and figure out how to enjoy running again.

The first step, I knew, was to try to rid myself of all my expectations about what times I should be running and how it should feel. No, that's not quite right. I still clung to the idea that running should be pleasurable. In fact, I started consciously thinking about what made running enjoyable for me, and schemed how to make it so. So what made running fun? Well, I loved the camaraderie of running and valued my running friendships a great deal. On the other hand, I didn't feel capable of doing the same workouts I had been able to do before. So I started showing up to workouts with my own plan -- to run only half as far, or much slower. I couldn't have done this if my running buddies had not been 100% supportive and encouraging, and this meant a great deal to me. It's not always easy or pleasant to have a wounded runner jumping in and out of your interval workouts trying to figure out life. Terry and Jonathan and Tom never complained about this distraction.

Another thing that I had missed for several months was the experience of finishing any run strong. Too many of my runs and race recently had been ending poorly, my form in a shambles. I decided that even if I had to start slowly, at the back of the pack, I would finish strong. I ran one race in May in which I started out so slowly that I didn't pass our club's top 60-year-old woman until a half mile into the race. But I managed to finish strong!

I also made what seemed like a big decision to never run unless I felt like it. I took a lot of days off in April. Sometimes I got on my bike, but a lot of time, I didn't do anything at all. It was risky to flirt with the sedentary life, but after a couple of days of leisure, I always found my desire to run -- and my subsequent enjoyment -- much greater when I did get out there again. Of course, this meant that my weekly mileage shrunk into the teens.

And all the while, I kept trying to observe what worked and what didn't, what felt good and what felt injurious. I think I was still trying to pinpoint the single cause of all the trouble. Then, on a solitary run, I had a simple but compelling insight: there could be more than one problem. Looking for a single cause might not be the right strategy for getting healthy again. I started to see my injury as only one of a number of things that were out of kilter. The injury might have been a cause of my poor running, or it might have been the manifestation of other problems that had been developing for years. I started looking at my nutrition, my sleep patterns, how much time I allowed for warming up before and stretching after my runs. I started looking critically at what I was doing (or not doing) to maintain my core strength and flexibility. My life had been busy and stressful lately, but that was no excuse. If I couldn't follow good habits, then I had to stop running so much.

As for the injury itself, by the middle of May, I felt I had finally reached an important conclusion: I had to stop running in pain. if this seems obvious to my readers, then I only hope it will be just as obvious if they ever experience a similar injury. It took me months to get to this point, and it was a tough decision. But I had tried just about everything else, so in desperation I said good-bye to track workouts, tempo runs, races, strides, and anything else that had given me trouble over the past five months. Now, my only runs were at 7:00 pace or (usually) much slower.

Back to the drawing board.

(In Part 5, things finally start to turn around just in time for me to avoid losing all my readers.)

The Injury: Part 3

The Search for Remedies

Having an injury, especially a "minor" injury that mimics the normal aches and pains of training, is a little like being lost in the woods: you often feel absolutely sure you know where you are, but after an hour or so of puzzling effort, you realize you have no idea where you are going.

I really had no idea why running was suddenly so hard, and very little idea of what to do about it. I tried a lot of things: I tried taking days off. I tried cross-training. I tried stretching more, stretching less, stretching differently, not stretching, stretching in the middle of runs, stretching while watching TV... I tried doing all my runs slower, I tried focusing on different aspects of my stride to isolate what was going wrong. The net effect of all of this experimentation was about the same: I felt more or less ok when I didn't run, and then when I tried to run more than four miles or faster than 7:30 pace, I was right back to the same pattern of feeling really uncoordinated and fatigued.

I had made up my mind to get some good massage therapy, and that was the first thing that really made a difference. I went in complaining about my hamstrings, but I admitted I didn't really know what the problem was. During the first session, the muscular therapist didn't identify a single cause of all my misery (I was alittle disappointed), but with his competent digging into my tissues he did find a few "trigger points" in the hamstring muscles and worked on them. I went back a week later and he REALLY worked on them, bringing me to the point of tears several times.

The results were good: I was now able to run more or less normally for 5-6 miles and the tightness in my hamstrings seemed to be very much relieved. Plus the memory of the massage and where he had found problems helped guide my own stretching and "tennis-ball therapy." I was encouraged. I knew I had lost a lot of fitness, but I decided to run at the nationals anyway. I guess I was hoping that we had solved the problem and that I would be able to contend for a medal in my new age category (50-54).

I know how the stock market feels

Since it has been held in Boston, I have run the Indoor Nationals almost every year. Two years ago I doubled in the M45-49 3000 and 1M. Last year (my last in that age category) I ran the mile. This year was to be my debut in the M50-54 category, and I planned to run the 3000. I figured that I still had endurance, even if I had lost some of my speed.

In January (prior to the injury), I had run 9:33. If I could come anywhere close to that, I figured I would have a chance at a medal. I chose to view my 5:00 mile as an aberration and -- newly massaged -- I went into the meet with a good attitude and the intention of running well.

The race went out fast, but I stayed back a bit. I've always felt confident running from behind so this was no big deal. I passed 400m in 78, about 3s behind the lead pack. However, instead of feeling smooth and under control, I felt really tired, laboring already. I started running 40s laps, settling into 10th place where I posed no threat the leaders. I went through the mile in 5:18 and felt no energy at all. It really took all I had to keep grinding away, but I finally finished in just over 10 minutes. I had lost a half minute of fitness in two months, and gone run all-out to run a 3K that was slower than what I could run for 5K a year earlier.

I was pretty discouraged.

I had heard of runners who experienced precipitous declines, becoming slow seemingly overnight. It was maddening because I still did not have a clear idea of what was going on. In fact, my "decline" had begun long before my January injury. I had been running poorly for a long time. Let me qualify that: In March 2007 I ran a half marathon in 1:16:49 -- 5:56 pace. From that high-water mark, I had submitted the following performances:

10K in 35:50 / 5:47 pace (April 08)
10M in 61:00 / 6:06 pace (July 08)
5M in 32:30 / 6:30 pace (Sept 08) **

That 5M race was the worst race of my life. I never imagined a race could be so slow and so difficult at the same time. Yes, it was a hot day, but I had routinely done training runs at that pace. After two miles, I was struggling. After three miles, the world was a grim and forbidding place. At four miles, I had to stop and walk for about a minute. It was embarrassing, but my body just wasn't working right.

I didn't race much the rest of the fall, and when I did, I tried to have very low expectations. Indoor track was supposed to be my return to racing form, but there I was in March of this year, running dramatically slower times and still nursing my mysterious injury.

I felt it was time to take a fresh look at things.

NSRP Update - July 9

We've been having good crowds lately for the Newton Summer Running Project, so I thought I should give an update.

First of all, I won't be at Cold Springs Wednesday, July 9, since I'll be traveling. I don't think that's going to stop the group, though.

In our usual disorganized way, we seem to have settled into roughly three groups: the low-mileage group typically runs about 5-7 miles, depending on how everyone feels. The mid-mileage group is doing 8-9, and there is a high-mileage group doing 70 minutes or more.

Most runs have involved the aqueduct somehow, although on Monday we tried the crosstown trail in Wellesley for variety. We still haven't done a BC Reservoir loop, so maybe that's next.

Efforts to meet at a different venue have so far failed completely, although I haven't given up on the idea.

It has been good to see the Newton South guys out in force; they are going to be tough to beat in the Fall. It has also been good to have Noah, Dave, Mike, Mike, Dan, Jarad (once!), Seb, Jamie, and Josh representing current and past Newton teams. Mike, Jerzy, Matias, and Matt represent the Brookline alumni. Rex has joined us the last couple of weeks from Dedham (and Lowell) and brought Ruben last Wednesday. Paul (Amherst HS, Brandeis teammate of Sam D) has been a great Monday addition.

I continue to be impressed with this group, and my only regret is that I didn't think to bring popsicles on Monday.

The Injury: Part 2

The Unraveling Begins

In February 2008, two weeks after I first "tweaked" my hamstring/hip/glute or whatever it was, I raced a mile at BU at the Valentine Invitational. I had hoped to run 4:45, but having cut back on my training and still feeling discomfort in my right leg, I revised my expectations downward. I went to the meet not knowing whether the injury would flare up in the race, and I remember telling Dan Chebot that I had a "hamstring injury" and wasn't expecting much.

The rest had done me some good, and I was able to warm up and do strides without anything more than a vague sense of discomfort in my right leg. I raced, and the race went pretty well. I started out in last, but ran extremely evenly to pass several people in my heat and finish in 4:50. After the race, my leg felt pretty much the same as it had before, so I figured I was well on the way to being healed. I had no doubt whatsoever that I would be running 6-8 seconds faster in a couple of months when the national masters championships rolled around.

The next day, a Sunday, I went out for what was supposed to be an easy recovery run and felt really uncomfortable. My right leg hurt with every stride. After a few miles, I felt surprisingly fatigued, much more so than the usual post-race dullness. The strangest thing was that I couldn't pinpoint the source of the trouble, I just felt as though my legs weren't working properly.

The third rule of injuries

The third rule of injuries is that after you do the wrong thing for a while, doing the wrong thing becomes a habit. In my case, after that mile race I settled into a routine of uncomfortable and shortened "maintenance" runs, interspersed with weekly attempts to make up for my drastically reduced training volume by doing speed workouts. This is how I rationalized my "training" behavior:

Although my legs felt bad when I started running, they didn't seem to feel much worse when I was running fast. Therefore, I figured, I should make the most of my limited running to get in some quality workouts. That way, I could preserve what fitness I had until I found the right stretch, or the right therapy, to take care of this still mysterious discomfort in my right leg. Maybe the track workouts would actually HELP by making me focus more on my form. I continued to go to the track about once a week, and I struggled through short workouts with a few fast intervals and increasing levels of general fatigue.

On weekends, I had some truly disastrous runs. I remember a long run with my buddies at what should have been a very gentle pace. After 40 minutes running maybe 7:30 miles, I felt like I was in the last stages of a particularly hard race. I was doing everything I could to keep up with my buddies, who were gabbing away with no strain whatsoever. I finally stopped at about 10 miles and walked. I was completely out of gas.

And still, I was unwilling to let go of the idea that I was still training, still trying to get ready for upcoming races.

At the end February, I ran another mile race at the New England Championships at Harvard. I ran 5:00, 10 second slower than my "off" race at BU. And it wasn't easy, either!

The worst thing was that I still didn't know what was going on, and I found it frustrating to try to explain to people I knew in the running world why I was suddenly running so slow. My close training friends knew that I wasn't right, but to more casual acquaintances I was just slow. It didn't help that my woes had begun at almost the same time I had turned 50 and I was starting to deal with the "well, you can't expect to keep racing and training at the same level you did when you were younger" advice.

But I certainly felt old, at least when I ran. I would run one day for four miles, come back feeing lousy and take the next day off. If I did manage to have a decent run, or a decent couple of days, the next time I tried to push the distance or the pace of my runs, I would be back where I started.

Towards the end of February, shortly after that 5:00 mile, I finally decided I needed some help, so I made an appointment with a muscular therapist for a series of massages that I hoped would loosen the hamstrings and make it possible to continue training and racing. I still had not given up on the masters indoor championships, and the spring racing season.

The Injury: Part 1

The beginning

Halfway through a dreary January with my house in the midst of a renovation, I finally started feeling as though my training was going well. After several weeks of harder, faster track workouts, I was gaining confidence in my ability to race again. The fall had not gone particularly well (as far as racing went) and I was looking forward to indoor track and being competitive again.

In addition to weekly intervals at Reggie, I had been running hills every week since the beginning of December. I had started with long slow hills, but after a few weeks had started running shorter, steeper hills. The previous Saturday I had done a particularly hard workout on Highland Street -- from the base of the hill at Lowell all the way to Forest Street. This was the kind of workout I knew I needed: mentally and physically challenging and oriented toward power.

The following Tuesday, I headed to the indoor track intending to do something short and fast -- a mix of 400s and 200s. I would be racing in a week and half, and wanted to run 1M race pace or better for a bit. I didn't want to trash my legs, but definitely wanted to see how they would feel with the quicker turnover.

While warming up with flexibility drills, I felt a tweak in my upper right leg, an indistinct discomfort somewhere in the hamstring/hip/glute area. I didn't worry about it until I started my strides. There was an unusual amount of tightness... or was it weakness... as I brought the foot down to contact the track. I got through my strides, and decided to run a 200 at 90% to test everything out. I was able to run it in about 34 seconds and while I was running the discomfort stayed exactly the same. After finishing, it was a different story, as the discomfort grew into a steady ache.

The first rule of injuries

The first rule of injuries is that they make you stupid. And in most cases, it isn't the initial injury that does you in, it's the stupidity of the actions you take afterwards.

In my case, I began to act stupidly almost immediately. There I was at the track all warmed up and ready for my workout, and I was feeling resentful that some minor tweak was going to deprive me of this one hour of the week that was truly mine. I decided that I would tough it out and try to get in my workout, despite the obvious pain that I still couldn't identify. I took some time to stretch my hamstrings (they were feeling tight and balky) and then got back on the track and continued running 200s.

Every interval followed the same pattern. Initial discomfort with the first few steps, then the discomfort would recede as I reached full stride. I would feel "ok" through the interval, although I felt as though my form was breaking down more than it should for so early in the workout, and then I would finish and the steady ache. I ran six 200s this way. On the last one, my form starting coming apart completely on the home stretch, and I finally got the message and stopped my workout.

The second rule of injuries

The second rule of injuries is that once you have admitted that you are injured, you almost always misidentify the injury itself, its cause, or both. You then proceed to try a random series of strategies to fix the problem, without fully understanding its underlying nature.

In my case, I assumed that I had strained my hamstring. It was a funny kind of strain, though, because I didn't feel ANYTHING when I wasn't running, but as soon as I started, I felt like I had never run before. I felt clumsy and awkward, like I was swinging my legs mechanically rather than loping smoothly. I had taken a couple of days off immediately following the ill-fated track workout, and then started running easily again, but those four mile runs were surprisingly hard. I would come back home and Ann would ask, "How was your run?" and I would answer that if running was always like this, well I wouldn't be a runner.

But my injury had made me stupid and stubborn. I had put in a lot of work to get in shape, and I wasn't going to let it all slip away. I started scheming how to "train through" my recovery. Surely with a little bit more stretching, longer warmups, and a break from the track, I was sure I would recover quickly. Well, and if not, I could always run through a little discomfort until it went away on its own.

Hamlet in the 1500

And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.


Alan Webb finished fifth in the 1500m final at the U.S. trials last night, which means that the U.S. record holder in the mile and the owner of 2007's fastest 1500m time will not be representing his country in the Beijing Olympics. What happened?

Defending world champion Bernard Lagat won the race, running at or near the front for three and a half laps, and kicking it in for a time of 3:40.37. Lagat was followed across the line by Leonel Manzano and Lopez Lomong, two worthy competitors who both deserve to be on the team. Lomong, in particular, showed great fortitude in the race as he was bumped off-stride by Said Ahmed with a lap to go, and found himself in the third lane and in ninth place late in the race. he charged back into contention on the backstretch of the last lap, and held on for third. Manzano shadowed Lagat the entire race and was in perfect position to use his formidable kick with 200 to go.

Webb, on the other hand didn't seem to have a plan. At the gun, he half-sprinted the first 100m, ending up near the back of a thick clot of runners who were stumbling an pushing as the pace slowed to a crawl. Then, as Gabe Jennings took the lead and upped the tempo, Webb was caught in last place. With a little over two laps to go, Webb made a big move to improve his position from 12th to about 6th, but then held back again, unwilling to go to the front so early. And there he stayed, running almost the entire last 800m in the second lane.

With 300m to go, Webb still looked like he had a chance, poised in sixth as the kicking began in earnest. As Lomong threw caution to the winds and went into a full sprint at the top of the backstretch, Webb waited. As the pack entered the final turn, it was Lagat, Manzano, and Lomong. Webb's last 200 was fast, but not fast enough to overtake those three. The final indignity came when Webb was caught at the line by William Leer, meaning Webb isn't even an alternate for the team.

The mile (or 1500) seems unique among track events in requiring equal parts physical gifts, mental tenacity, and tactical savvy. Even great runners can be undone if they exercise poor judgment. Webb is a great runner, possessing rare physical gifts and a willingness to work very hard to hone them. But for whatever reason -- lack of confidence, uncertainty about his preparation, or simply poor tactics -- Webb let others dictate the race. I keep coming back to the idea that Webb was ahead of Lomong with 300 to go, in position to finish in the top three. But while Webb waited, Lomong went all-in, risking everything. He passed Webb and reached top speed by the end of the backstratch... and Webb never caught up.

Would a big move with 300 to go have worked for Webb? There's no guarantee. Maybe Webb was already cooked from his mid-race surge, or from a tough semi-final. Maybe he just didn't have the strength yesterday. There's no certainty here. But it does seem as though Webb is his own toughest competitor, as he continues to run championship races without a clear plan of what he needs to do to succeed.

Trials is a Farewell for Some

Today is the final day of the Olympic Trials, and most of our attention will be on the qualifiers who earn their shot at Olympic fame in Beijing. As always, the U.S. team will be a mix of exciting newcomers and proven veterans.

There is also a bittersweet aspect to the trials. For some former champions, the meet represents their last chance to compete at the highest level of the sport. For others, their last chance to get to the Olympics. The games only come around every four years and many who competed for a trip to Beijing won't be around when the Olympics lands in London in 2012.

I remember having this same sense in 2000 watching Johnny Gray, the fastest 800 runner in U.S. history, jog home last in his race at the Olympic Trials in Sacramento. He took a lap of honor afterwards, and the crowd applauded wildly to show its appreciation for all he had accomplished... and to say good-bye.

Allen Johnson didn't get a chance for such a lap. The 37-year-old Johnson, a gold medalist in the 110 Hurdles in 1996 and a 4-time world champion in that event, aggravated a left leg injury in the prelims and stepped off the track. It is almost certainly the end of the season, and might be the end of his career.

It was hard to imagine that Adam Goucher will be back in 4 years. The 33-year-old finished 7th in the 10K in a personal best 27:59.31, but that might have been his swan song.

Likewise Meb Keflezighi, also 33 who won a silver medal in Athens in 2004, but failed to qualify for Beijing in either the marathon or 10K. Injuries take their toll on distance runners, and the future seems to belong to the Halls, Ritzenheims, and Rupps.

On of the top U.S. women in the middle distances over the past 12 years, Amy Rudolph finished 13th in the 10K, ending her quest to make her third Olympic team. At 35, it seems unlikely she'll be back in four more years.

Perhaps the most painful stories are of great athletes who never make it to the Olympic Games. 33-year-old David Krummenacker finished 4th in the 800m at the 2004 Trials, and failed to qualify for the finals in Eugene. That would seem to be the end of the Olympic dream for a man who won the world indoor championships in 2003, and won the U.S. outdoor 800m championships three years in a row. But the world belongs to Nick Symmonds and Andrew Wheating now.

At the 2008 Trials, we haven't seen a Johnny Gray moment. We might have seen one if 40-year-old pole vaulter Jeff Hartwig had finished lower in the standings at Eugene, but instead the soon-to-be-retired vaulter cleared 5.70m (18-8.25) to finish second and qualify for Beijing.

For Hartwig, the lap of honor will have to be postponed.

Hasay Runs HS Record, Makes 1500m Finals

It was a another great night of races at the U.S. Olympic Trials, with the 1500m semi-finals, and the finals of the women's 5K and men's 10K.

In the women's 1500m semis, 16-year-old Jordan Hasay started a long sustained kick from 300m out that brought her from 8th to 5th and earned her a spot in Sunday's final. Hasay's time of 4:14.50 broke Christine Babcock's U.S. high school record of 4:16.42, set only two weeks ago and which itself had eclipsed Kim Gallagher's 4:16.6 from way back in 1982.

NBC video of Hasay's race (requires Silverlight)

Babcock was in also in the second semi-final, and went out hard sharing the lead on the first lap. She faded a bit in the final two laps but finished 8th in 4:20.0. A very good time, but overshadowed by Hasay's historic effort.

All-Time U.S. High School Girls 1500 Times:

4:14.50 Jordan Hasay (Mission Prep) 08
4:16.42 Christine Babcock (Irvine Woodbridge)  08
4:16.6 Kim Gallagher (Upper Dublin, Ft Washington, Pennsylvania) 82
4:16.8 *Francie Larrieu (Fremont, Sunnyvale, California) 69
4:16.8 Polly Plumer (University, Irvine, California) 82
4:17.61 Sarah Bowman (Fauquier, Warrenton, Virginia) 05
4:17.84 Alisa Harvey (Jefferson, Alexandria, Virginia) 83
4:18.06 *Lynn Jennings (Bromfield, Harvard, Massachusetts) 77
4:18.62 Suzy Favor (Stevens Point, Wisconsin) 86
4:18.6 Margaret Groos (Harpeth Hall, Nashville, Tennessee) 77
4:18.8 Arianna Lambie (Bromfield, Harvard, Massachusetts) 03
4:18.9 Kathy Gibbons (Alhambra, Phoenix, Arizona)

Four Massachusetts runners competed last night at the Trials. Boston's Said Ahmed qualified for the men's 1500m finals, finishing 6th in his semi in 3:41.05. Marblehead's Shalane Flanagan followed her win in the 10K with a third place finish in the 5K in 15:02.81, two second behind Kara Goucher. Having qualified in both the 10K and 5K, Flanagan left open the possibility that she would compete in both at Beijing. Bromfield School alumna Ari Lambie led the 5K until three laps to go, but couldn't match the pace set by Flanagan, Jen Rhines, and Kara Goucher and finished 6th in 15:29.99. Braintree's Sean Quigley finished 9th (out of 25) in the men's 10K, running 28:21.96.

The Trials So Far

The first four days of the Olympic Trials were a wonderful stage for U.S. track and field, and after two rest days, the action begins again today.

Highlights from the first half of the trials included the Oregon sweep in the men's 800 meters, in which (as Alan Webb said) "the Olympic team changed nine times" in the last 150 meters. Nick Symmonds laid off the early pace (50 flat first 400) and he and Andrew Wheating blew everyone else away in the final straight. Lopez Lomong drifted out into the second lane in those last few meters, allowing Christian Smith to dive into the third spot, ahead of early front-runner Khadevis Robinson.

Men's 800m - NBC Video (Requires Silverlight)

In Monday's men's 5000m finals, defending world champion Bernard Lagat won the mad sprint to the finish, with Matt Tegenkamp (fourth fastest American all-time behind Lagat, Bob Kennedy and Sidney Maree) taking second, and Ian Dobson (PR 13:15.33) taking third. The only surprise might have been Dobson, who outkicked Belota Asmeron and Chris Solinsky for his first Olympic berth.

Here's the video, with a few unfortunate mid-identifications in the early laps.

Men's 5000m - NBC video

Solinsky made a gutsy move to take the lead with 1000 to go, but didn't have the finishing speed to hold on.

The women's 10,000 was a showcase for Shalane Flanagan who is attempting the 5000, 10,000m double, who outkicked defending world bronze medalist Kara Goucher. The race was also thrilling for 3rd-place finisher Amy Begley, who had to run a sub-70s final 400m to meet the Olympic "A" standard and earn a ticket to Beijing.

Women's 10K - NBC Video

And then there was the Men's 100m, and six guys under 10.00, led by Tyson Gay's fastest-elapsed-time-in-the-history-of-the-world (but don't use the "R" word) 9.68, aided by a favorable 4m/s wind.

So what's next?

Today's finals include the mens and women's 400m (will LaShawn Merritt take down Jeremy Wariner?) and the women's steeplechase (American Record for Jenny Barringer?). Today is also the first round of qualifying for the men's 1500, with lagat, Alan Webb, and Leonel Manzano the favorites to make the team. the 1500 also features two New England athletes, Boston's Said Ahmed (Boston English, Arkansas) and New Hampshire's and Stanford's Russell Brown.

How to Select an Olympic team

Unlike many other countries, and many other sports within this country, U.S. track and field selects its Olympians through trials and a fair, but occasionally cruel calculus: finish in the top three in your event or stay home.

There are legitimate criticisms of this selection process (I'll discuss a few of them in a moment), but it is probably the most objective process possible. And the athletes themselves don't seem to be lobbying for anything different. So what's the problem?

I ran across this particularly dumb answer to that question while searching for rsults on Yahoo's sports site: USA Track and Field Disqualifies Itself. The author, Roy Johnson, compares the trials selection process to the way U.S. gymnastics selects their team, and comes down in favor of gymnastics.

To me, his arguments are far unconvincing -- he points to Tyson Gay, Jeremy Wariner, and Allyson Felix, and says that everyone knows they should be on the team, so why should they have to prove themselves again in the trials? He asks why we should take the risk of denying a better athlete a spot because that athlete wakes up with a cold on race day, or slips, or has some other bit of bad luck?

So how do we know who is the better athlete without having them race in a big event, with all the risks and pressure that goes along with it? Does he think we should use time trials to determine the best athletes? Records? Results from earlier competition against lesser rivals? Johnson doesn't say, and that's why his column is so vapid.

However, there IS an argument against the American system and that is that because it allows for no exceptions to the top three rule, almost all athletes MUST plan their training to be at their best for the trials. One could argue that for some events this works against having athletes in the best shape for the Olympics themselves.

For this to work, you'd really want the exemption to come from the IOC itself, and be an exemption to the three athletes per country rule. In other words, the IOC could allow four entries from one country on the condition that the four included the defending world champion and three others who had met the qualifying standard. This would allow the U.S. to have its trials, select its top three, and still make a place for a Wariner or Lagat or Gay.

One risk would be that defending world champions skip the trials entirely, but the U.S. body could still require participation in the trials as a condition of selection, even for "exempt" athletes.

Anyway, I note that this morning's Boston Globe has a story on the same subject of the qualifying process (US Olympic trials qualify as stressful). The example cited is Dan O'Brien, a heavy favorite for a medal in the decathlon in Barcelona (1992), who failed to clear a height in the pole vault and did not make the team.

In the end, I don't think anything will change with the U.S. system -- mostly because the athletes themselves seem to accept it, stress and all. Ultimately, almost all athletes seem to prefer the process to be fair, and DON'T want the process to be in the hands a selection committee.

Two More All-State Videos

Boys 800m - Nick Wade holds off Liam Anastasia-Murphy



Girls 1M - Kristin Kasper runs away with it

USATF Olympic Trials Begin Today in Eugene

The US Track and Field Olympic Trials begin today with first-day competition in the women's heptathlon, preliminary rounds in several events, and one final -- the women's 10000m. You can find the complete schedule and today's start lists at these links:

US Olympic Trials - Track and Field Schedule

Olympic Trials Start Lists - Friday June 27, 2008

Local competitors include:

Marblehead native Shalane Flanagan is competing in both the 10K and 5K, and is the odds-on favorite in the latter.

Former Brookline runner Jonathon Riley will be running in the 5000m semifinals tonight, trying to make his second Olympic team.

On Friday, Braintree's Sean Quigley will be competing in the 10000m final.

The meet is being hosted in Eugene, Oregon, which is itself a minor miracle.

Here's a great story from the Eugene Register-Guard describing how Vin Lananna helped bring the trials (and other championship events) back to Eugene.

Energy from an Unlikely Source

Have you ever had the idea that there must be a way to harness the kinetic energy of running (or cycling) to do something more useful, like power your the lights in your house, or charge batteries?

Slate has published an article that looks at the possibility of designing a bra that would convert the kinetic energy of um... well... upper torso motion into enough electrical power to run an iPod.

Victoria's Circuit: Harnessing the Untapped Power of Breast Motion

High Maintenance

Last year, our nine-year-old car was having some issues and Ann suggested that maybe it was time to let it go to Honda heaven. I disagreed, arguing that even though it had become a "high-maintenance" vehicle, requiring thousands of dollars a year in parts and repairs, it still had a lot of good miles left in it. After all, the car still gets us where we need to go -- albeit, with a few more creaks and groans along the way.

Am I being sentimental? Probably. After all, I have more sympathy for the condition of my car since I, too, have become something of a high-maintenance vehicle. The days of care-free transportation to wherever I wanted to go are over. Now, every time I think about venturing forth, I have to check all the instruments, listen to and evaluate a number of strange sounds and sensations, and consider whether I want to be stuck miles from home standing by the side of the road waiting for AAA.

It's too bad, because I've always taken pride in keeping the old machine humming along through my own preventative care, without needing to make frequent visits to the mechanic. Now, I'm all too ready to seek advice and presumptive remedies from anyone who'll listen. If there were a "Car Talk" for runners, I'd be calling Click and Clack every week, trying to describe the latest idiosyncrasies afflicting my running.

I used to be the guy with the new car in the driveway; now I'm the annoying neighbor who has a worn-out junker on blocks in the backyard, surrounded by engine parts. How did this happen?

And yet, just like the guy who comes home after work to spend another couple of hours trying to get his old Pontiac to run again, I am not without hope. In my mind, I still imagine harnessing a powerful internal combustion engine to cruise up and down the boulevards with a kind of controlled fury, inspiring admiration and envy. All I need is a new carburetor and spark plugs, adjust the timing, save up for some new wheels...

The male mid-life crisis often expresses itself as a desire for a hotter car (or a younger mate). For me, those temptations have little hold on my imagination. But that far-away look in my eyes, that distracted mood that strikes from time to time, that's me thinking about running really fast again, without having to wonder about worrisome new noises, odd smells, and unhealthy vibrations every time I pull out of the driveway.

In the mean time, I'll keep tinkering.

Being "high-maintenance" is still better than being scrap metal.

No Group Run Tonight - Monday, June 23

Radar shows heavy thunderstorms for the next hour or two, so no organized run from Cold Springs, Cutler Park, or anywhere else tonight.

Blackburn, McChesney - Coaches of the Year

I was away for a few days and returned last night to find that the Boston Globe had published their 2008 All-Scholastics for the spring season. Frequently, I have mixed feelings about the Boston Globe's selections because they have been known to leave out deserving athletes (e.g., Jess Barton 2007, Emily Mepham, Robert Gibson 2008). But I have come to realize that they should not be viewed as the be-all, end-all validation of athletic accomplishments. instead, they are a nice addition to other honors and opportunities to shine.

Having said that, I couldn't agree more with the selections of Jim Blackburn and Steve McChesney as the Div I Boys and Girls Coaches of the year. The Newton South girls team won the state championship and had an overall amazing season. The Newton North boys came within 2 points of the state championship and set a high standard of excellence all year, through dual meets, the state relays, and the end-of-season championships.

Although Steve and Jim coach in very different ways, each brings a vast reservoir of experience, knowledge, and caring to the task of inspiring and guiding high school track and field athletes. Congratulations to both of them!

(By the way, it seems odd that both coaches have been forced to use the same beat up track at Newton South H.S. this year.)

Many congratulations as well to Bay State athletes making the All-Scholastic honor roll: Milton's Paul Connor in the 400, Brookline's David Wilson in the 2-Mile, Newton North's Adam Bao in the Triple Jump, and Newton North's Carolyn Ranti in the 800.

Chris Derrick is a Damn Good Writer, Too

The Nike Outdoor Nationals H.S. meet is this weekend, and that typically spells the end of the H.S. season (this year, the Olympic trials will have some high schoolers, too, so it's not exactly the end). Anyway, NON is the closest thing to a national championships to conclude the spring T&F season.

Always, anticipated, the two-mile races are especially interesting this year. The boys race will have German Fernandez (8:34 3200), Rob Finnerty (4:01 1M), Luke Puskedra (8:46 3200), Colby Lowe (8:50 2-mile), and others. The hope is for a fast time, a historic time, but the heat of Greensboro, North Carolina might preclude a shot at Jeff Nelson's 30-year old H.S. record in the deuce.

Chris Derrick, Gatorade National H.A. runner of the year and owner of a 13:55 5K time from earlier this spring, has written a brilliant preview of the race for DyeStat. Seriously, it is one of the best previews of an individual H.S. race I have ever read.

It's unfortunate that there isn't a similar preview of the girls race. Massachusetts multi-state champion Emily Jones is considered one of the favorites, and is one of three runners "profiled" in a kind of ridiculous "tale of the tape" on DyeStat.

I mean, isn't there something wrong when the the boys preview focuses on accomplishments and on the strategy and drama of the race itself, and the girls preview tells us what flavor ice cream the competitors like? Please. Even though Jordan Hasay is bypassing NON for the USATF Jr. Olympics, there are 13 girls with PRs of 10:33 or better for 3200. Give them more respect.

Bay State Athletes at New Englands

Catching up on some old business...

I want to congratulate the following athletes who competed at the New England championships last Saturday in Saco, Maine.

Highest finish for any Bay-Stater was Craig Bennett's 3rd place in the 400, running 49.56. His teammate, Mass. State Champion Paul Connor was DQ'd -- I don't know why. Connor returned to help Milton's 4x400 team (Connor, Max Opava, Imar Iyamui, and Bennett) win a medal, as the Wildcats ran 3:25.56 for 5th.

Framingham's Camille Murphy earned a medal in the 1600, running 5:05.12 for 6th. Murphy had a great season and returns next year as one of the top distance runners in the BSC.

Rebecca White got DQ'd in the 3200... again, I have no idea why. How often do you see anyone DQ'd in a 3200?

Brookline's Robert Gibson ran 4:17.64 in a very deep 1600 race to finish 8th. Good luck, Robert as you take a well-earned rest and head off to Texas next year.

Norwood freshman Cory Ryan finished 9th in the 200, as she ran 26.32.

I saved one of the best performances for next to last. The Weymouth girls 4x800 ran their fastest race of the outdoor season to place 4th, only 7 seconds behind New England champions Newton South. The quartet of Erica Donnally (sp?), Jill Corcoran , Carolyn Connolly, and Sam Bennett ran 9:26.04.

Bennett doubled back, along with Felicia Hopkins, Kayla Sullivan, and Jen Bell to place 10th in the 4x400 in 4:00.94.

Running on the Husks of Rice

Today's New York Times has a fascinating story about Hitoshi Mimura, a "master craftsman" who designs running shoes for ASICS, and the development of racing shoes that incorporate ground rice husks for water absorption and better traction.

Can Rice lead to Gold? Marathon Will Offer Test

Run with Friends This Summer

Back by popular demand, the Newton Summer Running Project offers enthusiastic, if informal, support for building a nice aerobic base over the summer months.

The NSRP is nothing more or less than an opportunity to meet for group runs. Last summer we met at Cold Spring Park at 6:15 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesday every week from June to mid-August. After a brief, disorganized discussion about who wanted to run how far, we got started at about 6:30. Some people ran long and pretty fast (we had one group that typically did 12 miles). Other people ran short and slow (I typically ran anywhere from 4-7 miles very slowly). Others were in-between. The only way this works is that we have a really great group of people and we are flexible.

Our first run of 2008 will be Wednesday, June 11. Let's meet at 6:15 and get going right away.

I will be doing a VERY short run and won't be able to stick around long, but the important thing is that we get started. We can also decide whether to continue last year's Monday-Wednesday routine from Cold Spring, or be more adventurous and try new venues.

I hope to see some of you there.

All-State Videos Available

As promised, the "JamCast" team was at the All-State meet at Durfee H.S. on Saturday. Thanks to all of you who wrote in to suggest events for us to videotape!

Before I list the videos and provide links, I want to thank Noah and Sam for joining me and for providing commentary. Noah did a ton of research to prepare to be our "play-by-play" announcer, and Sam added a lot of information from his knowledge of the DCL and the H.S. scene in general. We had a lot of fun, and all three of us apologize for our occasional mix-ups.

These videos are available on YouTube:

Girls 800
Boys 300H
Boys 400
Boys 1 Mile
Boys 2 Mile

The following videos are available if you ask me really nicely, and only leave positive comments on the blog:

Girls 1M - in which I announce that Kristin Kasper has "no chance"

Girls 4x800 - exceeds YouTube length limits (they should have run faster!)

Girls 400 (not offloaded from tape yet)

Boys 800 (not offloaded from tape yet)

Boys 100H (not offloaded from tape yet)

Boys 4x800 (not offloaded from tape yet)

Boys 4x400 (not offloaded from tape yet)

NN Boys Are 2nd at 2008 All-State Meet

Newton North came oh-so-close to earning another State Championship trophy, but in the end fell just two points shy of Charlestown in a day-long battle that wasn't over until North's 4x400 relay team crossed the line in fourth.

Still, North could be proud of several outstanding performances that earned the team the runner-up trophy, just a point ahead of Mansfield. Sam Arsenault had another outstanding day on a big stage, running a personal best 39.52 in the 300 hurdles to place second (he was seeded 7th). (Video below)



Sam also added a 3rd in the high jump, and ran a 51 lead off leg in the 4x400 relay. Adam Bao bounced back from a sixth-place in the D1 triple jump, leaping 44-6 to take 2nd, only an inch and a half behind the winner.

Seb Putzeys placed fifth in the 800m, and both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams placed 4th, giving the team 36 points.

2008 State Meet Results

Congratulations to the North boys on a fine season -- undefeated in dual meets, 2nd at the State Relays, 2nd at Div I, and 2nd at the All-State meet.

Ranti Wins State 800m Championship

Meg Looney, the 2007 runner-up in the girls 800m, must have felt out of place in the barrel of the seeded heat. She bolted to the front at the gun, and flew through the first 200m in just under 30 seconds. Emily Mepham decided to follow, expending precious energy to bridge the gap up to Looney.

Meanwhile, Carolyn Ranti was back in 4th, 10 meters behind and running her own race.

As the pace at the front slowed, Ranti reeled in the leaders. Looney and Mepham hit 400m in 64, with Ranti a second back. Around the turn, she established contact, but found herself on the inside. No problem. As Looney drifted out from the rail to hold off Mepham, who was on her outside, Ranti saw daylight and passed on the inside. Once she had the lead, her last 200 was a thing of beauty. She won going away, running a personal best 2:13.06, which is also the fastest girls time in Mass this year.

After dropping back to fourth, Looney rallied for second, with Alex Neville in third, and Mepham in fourth.

2008 All-State Meet Performance Lists

Performance lists for Saturday's state meet have been posted:

Performance List on miaa.ezstream.com

Now Taking Requests...

So Noah, Sam, and I are planning to go to the All-State meet at Durfee with video camera in hand. If you haven't heard Noah's outstanding commentary, here's a representative sample:

2007 Boys All-State Mile

Since you never know how long our camera battery will hold out, we'll be somewhat selective in what we try to capture. So I'm opening up the request line. What events would you most like to see (and hear)?

Fernandez Runs Historic Double at CA State Meet

Usain Bolt, a 21-year-old Jamaican running in only his fifth competitive 100m (how is that possible?) set a world record of 9.72 last night at the New York Grand Prix meet, but that might not be the most remarkable story of the weekend.

German Fernandez of Riverbank H.S. pulled off the greatest H.S. distance double ever, running 4:00.29 for 1600m and then coming back two hours later to run 8:34.29 for 3200m. Fernandez time in the 3200 is a national H.S record, although it is a shade slower than the conversion of Jeff Nelson's legendary 8:37 2-Mile time from 1979.

Either way, the performance defies belief. Fernandez ran splits of 4:18.7 / 4:15.5... He passed 3000m in 8:03-8:04. And he led the whole race, while having to pass lapped runners. The runner in second ran 8:58 and finished almost half a lap behind!

Watch 3200

The girls distance events were also pretty special, with Christine Babcock running a national record 4:33.82 in the 1600 to win by a straightaway, and Jordan Hasay and Laurynne Chetelat running 9:52.13 and 9:52.51, respectively in the 3200.

California State Meet Results

North Edged by Brockton; Arsenault Wins 300H and HJ

All day long, Jim Blackburn was worried about BC high knowing that the 4x400 relay would probably be the difference between the two teams. It was, but by then Brockton had clinched the team title by eking out points in events where they were not expected to score and by beating North in the pivotal 4x100 relay. At the end of the day, the score was 52-51 Brockton, with BC High making it a close third with 48.

Sam Arsenault had a spectacular day for the Tigers, in fact, as good a day as you can have, as he won the 300 hurdles (PB 39.98), the high jump (PB 6-7), and anchored the winning 4x400 relay team. It got me wondering whether any other Newton North athlete has won two individual events and a relay in the same D1 championships. I'm almost certain that Jed Carpenter (400, TJ and 4x400) accomplished the feat in 2004, but I can't find the results to confirm it. Josh -- can you help me out here? Did Jed do it? Has anyone else done it?

North also had another winner as Seb Putzeys dominated the 800, pulling away to win in 1:56.05, over 2.5 seconds ahead of second place. Other scorers included Ivan Kostadinov, who placed 4th in the long jump (21-3.75 -- oh, for half an inch more!), Adam Bao, fifth in the Triple jump (43-5.5 -- oh, for two inches more!), and the amazing Dan Giovanucci, who threw two feet better than his previous best to pull out 6th in the shot put (47-3.25). "As big a performance as Smitty winning the state meet," according to North throws coach Mike Bower.

North's 4x100 relay (Lamisere, Peterson, Bao, Kostadinov) placed 4th (43.72 - oh, for 8/100ths of a sec... oh well, never mind).

In the girls meet, there was little doubt that Newton South was the best team, and they led the meet wire-to-wire. The first event on the track was the 2-mile, the Lions took 1-3-6, with Kelsey Karys winning in 10.52.95. Newton North freshman Margo Gillis ran a personal best 11:11.29 to place 2nd.

While South was racking up the points on the way to winning the team title by 20 over Lincoln-Sudbury, Newton North was placing in several events. Carolyn Ranti led for much of the 800 before being overtaken by state 1000 champ Emily Mepham and Attleboro's Alex Neville. For Ranti, the time was still a season's best 2:14.83. Emma Kornetsky and Michelle Kaufman placed 4th (16-4) and 5th (16-3) in the long jump. Kaufman also placed 5th in the 300 hurdles. Freshman Emily Hutchinson just missed placing in the high jump, clearing 5-1 but dropping out of a tie for 5th on more misses.

North's 4x800 relay team (Kornetsky, Gillis, Tabatabaie (?), and Ranti) placed 3rd behind L-S and Newton South, running 9:32.44. Ranti ran a 2:15 anchor split and very nearly ran down South's Bridget Dahlberg.

Speaking of Dahlberg, Noah pointed out to me that with the exception of the girls 800, runners from Newton or neighboring Brookline dominated the distance events for both boys and girls:

Girls 2M: 1. Karys (NS), 2. Gillis (NN), 3. Reed (NS)
Boys 2M: 1. Wilson (Brk), 2. Burnstein (Brk)
Girls 1M: 1. Dahlberg (NS), 2. O'Keefe (NS)
Boys 1M: 1. Gibson (Brk)
Girls 800: ... 3. Ranti (NN)
Boys 800: 1. Putzeys (NN)

Interesting.

So it's on to the All-State meet next Saturday at Durfee High School in Fall River, where Noah promises to reprise his acclaimed role as race announcer and pundit for "JamCam."

Div I Meet Results on Cool Running

Class A Meet Today at Lincoln-Sudbury

The Division I State Championships (a.k.a, "Class A's") take place today at Lincoln-Sudbury H.S. Field events begin at 2:00; running events at 2:30.

Directions from Route 128/I-95:

Take Route 128/95 to Route 20 in Weston/Waltham.
Go west on Route 20 through Weston to Wayland Center.
In Wayland Center, turn right onto Route 27 (north).
Go north on Route 27 for 3.2 miles until you reach Sudbury Center.
Turn right onto Concord Road, go 1.1 miles.
Turn right at Lincoln Rd, the school will be on your left.

Schedule of Events:

2:00 PM - FIELD EVENTS 

TRIPLE JUMP (B-G)
HIGH JUMP (G-B)
SHOT PUT (G-B)
DISCUS (B-G)
JAVELIN (B-G)
LONG JUMP (G-B)
POLE VAULT (G-B)

2:30 PM - RUNNING EVENTS GIRLS FOLLOWED BY BOYS

TWO MILE RUN FINAL ON TIME
800 METER RUN FINAL ON TIME
300 METER HURDLES FINAL ON TIME
400 METER RUN FINAL ON TIME
*100 METER DASH TRIALS
*100 METER HURDLES TRIALS
*110 METER HURDLES TRIALS
**200 METER DASH TRIALS
ONE MILE RUN FINAL ON TIME
*100 METER DASH SEMI FINALS IF NECESSARY
*110 METER HIGH HURDLES SEMI FINAL IF NECESSARY
*100 METER HURDLES SEMI FINAL IF NECESSARY
200 METER DASH FINALS
100 METER DASH FINALS
100 METER HURDLES FINAL
110 METER HIGH HURDLES FINAL
***3200 METER RELAY FINAL ON TIME
400 METER RELAY FINAL ON TIME
1600 METER RELAY FINAL ON TIME

Performance Lists

May 31, 2008 - First (We Hate Bottled) Water Run/Walk Off

Carolyn Ranti and friends are organizing a race/walk in Newton this Saturday as their Environmental Service Project for AP Biology. The event will be held at Cold Spring Park and includes a 5K race (two loops of the Park) or 2.5K walk (one loop).

The event is intended to bring attention to the negative environmental impact of using bottled water in situations where safe municipal water supplies are available. There is no entry fee to race or walk, but the organizers are asking for small donations to benefit Newton's Green Decade Coalition.

Sign up at 2:00 on Saturday. The race starts at 2:30. There will be a table at the end of the parking lot (there will be signs directing people).

I plan to be there and it would be great to see other readers of the blog there!

Blog Vacation: In the Wilds of Maine

The Blog is on a mini-vacation until Tuesday, May 27, as I spend the long weekend in Tremont, Maine, fighting off the black flies, and running on the fire roads.

League Meet Results

League meet results pieced together from local news sources:

Daily News Tribune - Tiger Boys Excel at BSC Championships
MetroWest Daily News - Locals Shine at BSC track meet

Sam Arsenault ran a personal best 40.0 to win the 300-meter hurdles, high-jumped 6-4, and ran on the winning 4x400 relay with teammates Adam Bao, Seb Putzeys and Ivan Kostadinov.

Adam Bao won the triple jump (44-9), Kostadinov won the long jump (21-9), and both ran on the victorious 4x100 relay (43.4) along with Troy Peterson and Hymlaire Lamisere.

Seb Putzeys won the 800 in a personal best 1:55.7, beating Robert Gibson. It is a curious and astounding fact that Gibson, clearly the best distance runner in the state, winner of the 2007 D1 State XC championship and 2008 Indoor All-State 2-Mile, has not won an individual BSC championship race in any season this year.

Lamisere placed second in the 100-meter dash (11.2) and senior Alex MacLean came finished second in the shot put, while classmate Steven Long was third in the discus.

Jarad Forman ran a huge PR in the mile (DyeStat claims 4:34!), to take 4th. Wow. I mean Wow, wow, wow.

For the girls, Michelle Kaufman won the 300 hurdles (46.9) and long jump (16-9). Bonnie Guang won the shot put (33'). Margo Gillis placed second in the 2-mile in 11:28, according to DyeStat reports.

By the way, congratulations to Framingham's winning 4x100 (51.0?) and 4x800 teams (10:14). Did anyone see that coming? Also, great time for Weymouth's 4x400 team (4:04?).

The Wii of All Flesh

Nintendo has launched it's fitness-themed video game for the Wii controller called "Wii Fit" and I'm not sure whether to applaud or make loud catcalls.

On the one hand, who could argue with fitness?

On the other, isn't there any area of our life that is safe from being turned into a video game? (That's a rhetorical question -- the last thing I need is to start a speculation-fest on Nintendo's plans for the rest of our bodily functions).

What is fitness, anyway? Isn't it something that by definition prepares you for things out in the real world? Does Wii Fit do that? Well, maybe it does. The more I watch the promotional videos, the more it looks like it might be a reasonable alternative to watching those TV exercise shows that have been on since the 1960s.

But there's still something really strange about going for a video-based run in the park...

A nice run in the park

Record Day at MSTCA Div I Relays

(Photo - Henry Finch)

With Michelle Kaufman standing at the end of the runway, preparing for her final attempt in the long jump relay, the Newton North girls sitting in a row alongside the runway began their rhythmic clapping. They had just seen Emma Kornetsky jump a personal best 5.42 (17-9), and with Vicki Marone's 4.85 (15-10), and Kaufman's previous leap of 5.28 (17-4), the Newton North team was looking good for the win; still, the gallery wanted to see more.

Kaufman charged down the runway, hit the board with barely an inch to spare, elevated, and then flew. When she landed sometime later, she knew it was good. The mark was 5.65, 18 feet 4 inches, a personal best by almost half a foot, and enough to make North Asst. Coach Adam Carpenter "run around like a schoolgirl" (Shawn Wallace). The trio of marks was two feet better the next team, and set a new MSTCA Relays record.

Later, the Newton North boys would do their best to upstage the girls, jumping an aggregate 20.67 (67-8), or a staggering 22-7 per jumper, also an MSTCA Relays record. I didn't get the individual jumps from the record-setting trio of Bao, Arsenault, and Kostadinov, but perhaps one of my readers can supply the marks.

The victory for the girls in the long jump relay was one of four wins on the day. The Tigers also won the shuttle hurdle relay (with their B team taking fifth), the sprint medley (Carolyn Ranti splitting 2:15 to move from fourth to first on the final leg), and the discus. A 2nd place finish in the distance medley, a 3rd place in the shot put, and a 5th in the 4x800 completed the scoring for North. Alas, those 56 points were not quite enough to hold off Newton South, which scored 60 points, including wins in the 4x1600, distance medley, and shot put.

For the boys, the win the long jump was accompanied by a win in the sprint medley (in which the Tigers were relegated to the slowest heat after their entry card went missing), 3rd place finishes in the shot put and 4x400, and a somewhat disappointing 4th place in the triple jump. That was good enough for the Tigers to take third place in the overall standing with 36 points, 11 behind BC High and five behind Andover.

Misc Notes: The Brookline boys dominated both distance events. They won the 4x1600 in an All-Class state record 17:50.11, eclipsing by four seconds the time set by the 2004 Newton North team. Two hours later they won the distance medley by over 20 seconds. Other than a brilliant first 1600 by Newton South's Andrew Wortham, no one really gave Brookline any competition.

Newton South set a huge meet and all-class record in the girls 4x1600, running 21:07.08 to break their own previous record by a whopping 45 seconds -- and all this without Bridget Dahlberg, the best miler in the state! Newton South's B team ran 22:43 for 8th. I think it's safe to say that their 8x1600 relay team (avg 5:28) would be pretty formidable.

Mike Miller was complaining about having the pole vault count in the team scoring, since some schools have it, and other are barred from having it. However, in spite of the potential for the pole vault to impact the team competition, that didn't happen in the D1 meet (the Newton South girls gained a single point by placing sixth). However, the D2 meet is a nightmare, with the pole vault not only determining the team champion but taking place on Sunday, almost a day after the main competitions. This is such a bad idea that it deserves its own column on the subject.

I thought it was great to have this meet in mid-May instead of late April. It really felt like a championship meet.

Link to Div I MSTCA Relays Results on Cool Running

NNHS Alumni Results - May 17, 2008

I try to picture the final sprint, the final 100 meters after almost 25 laps of racing, the runner from Bowdoin trying to hold off the runner from Rochester, or was it the other way around?

I've run at that track, the one at Springfield College, and I can picture it in my mind, the runners passing the steeplechase water jump on the final turn, the spectators in the aluminum bleachers... Had I been there on Saturday for the ECAC Div III Championships, I would have been quite conflicted watching Dan Chebot (NNHS Class of 2005) and Pat Pierce (NNHS Class of 2004) sprinting for the finish together. On this day, Dan prevailed by half a second, 32:49.59 to 32:50.17.

At the same meet, Doug Brecher competed in the 5000 (I'm surprised he wasn't also in the 10K), running 15:39.15.

At the SEC Championships, being held this weekend at Auburn, Chris Barnicle placed 9th in the 10000m, running 30:11.15 for Arkansas.

Pistorius Can Run... Can He Qualify?

Oscar Pistorius, the 21-year-old South African sprinter and double amputee, has been cleared to seek a qualifying time for the 2008 Olympics by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Pistorius has run 400 meters in 46.46 seconds, about a second slower than the Olympic "A" standard of 45.55, and half second slower than the "B" standard. It seems to be quite a long shot for him to run an individual qualifying time in the next several weeks. However, if South Africa qualifies a 4x400m relay team, the country could select Pistorius to compete.

I heard the news on WEEI, normally not a big source of international Track and Field news. Here's a link to BBC coverage of the decision.

An excerpt from that article:

"On the basis of the evidence brought by the experts called by both parties, the panel was not persuaded that there was sufficient evidence of any metabolic advantage in favour of the double amputee using the Cheetah Flex-Foot."

"The panel does not exclude the possibility that, with future advances in scientific knowledge, and a testing regime designed and carried out to the satisfaction of both parties, the IAAF might in future be in a position to prove that the existing Cheetah Flex-Foot model provides Oscar Pistorius with an advantage over other athletes."

State Relays Tomorrow

Saturday is the State Relays, and the decision to move the meet three weeks later in the season looks like a good one to me. It seems fitting that "the true state championships" should follow the dual meet season and happen when everyone has had a chance to shake off early spring sluggishness.

The Div I Relays will be at Andover. The Newton North girls are the defending champs, and the boys are the defending runners-up.

Here's a link to meet information, including the schedule of events.

It might not happen as teams try to maximize points, but I can't help hoping to see record assaults in the 4x1600 relays. These will be the first races on the track, with the boys running at 9:30 and the girls approximately 20 minutes later. It would be great to see the Brookline boys (Robert Gibson, David Wilson, Chris Mercurio, Ryan Hardiman) run sub 17:45. And if the Newton South girls run their best team they could run sub 20:45.

Tigers Wrap Up Undefeated Seasons

It's official. The Newton North Boys and Girls won their final meets yesterday at Framingham to record matching undefeated seasons. For the boys, it was their 11th straight unbeaten season. The girls won their 19th league title in the last 21 years. Congratulations to both teams on an outstanding dual-meet season!

The final score of the girls meet was 102-34, and Framingham is not a bad team! Highlights for the girls included a double win for Emma Kornetsky in the 400 (61.5) and the long jump (PR 16-10). Whoa. If I'm not mistaken, this is Emma's first season long jumping. All of a sudden she's in state meet territory.

Michelle Kaufman won two events, the 100 (12.6) and 300 hurdles (51.9), and there were many other multiple scorers for North. Perhaps the most surprising result of the day was that Framingham junior Camille Murphy took first in the mile ahead of North junior Carolyn Ranti. Murphy's time of 5:17.2 is the fastest in the BSC this year. In another exciting distance race, this time involving freshmen, North's Margo Gillis outkicked Framingham's Sarah Bowhill 11:45 to 11:52 to win the 2-Mile.

The score of the boys meet was 98-38, with Newton North's athletes continuing to set season-best marks. Sam Arsenault won a hard-fought 300 hurdles and was pushed to a BSC best time of 40.9. Sam also won the long jump and high jump. Adam Bao won the triple jump by an inch (41-1) and 400 by a tench of second (52.3), while Hymlaire Lamisere ran 10.9 in the 100, which is also a BSC best for the year.

Alex Maclean won the shot (46-1), Steve Long the discus (128-8), and Ben Klein the javelin (132-0).

Newton North swept the mile, with Jarad Forman winning in 4:46, just ahead of freshman Ezra Lichtmann (4:46.9). Dan Hamilton led another Toger sweep of the the 2- mile in 10:21, with Charlie Krasnow running a PR 10:41.8.

Did I Say That?

If the key to good coaching is good communication, I think I might be in trouble. It's not that I don't communicate, it's that I seem to communicate much more than I actually mean.

The other day I was chatting with Duncan, one of the cross-country runners at Concord Academy, and he asked me about a runner who used to train with rocks in his backpack. I must have looked puzzled. Was this some expression -- "rocks in his backpack" -- that the kids were using these days and that I hadn't heard before? No, Duncan was adamant. "Don't you remember? You told us about a Newton North runner who used to train with a backpack full of rocks."

I still have no idea who this runner might have been, nor do I have any recollection of ever telling such a story.

But then, this happens to me a lot. I tend to think out loud, and when I am thinking about running, the words tumble out as I try to weave together information drawn from a variety of sources. Sometimes I struggle to find the right analogy or comparison. Sometimes, I use an example that doesn't quite work. And even when it does work, I find it hard to remember later exactly what it was I said. Whatever the reason, I frequently find myself asking "Did I say that?"

This used to happen all the time with Dave Polgar. Dave is a sweet guy, but very stubborn about certain things. I used to talk myself blue in the face trying to get him to accept what to me seemed like a simple proposition: for example, the value of warming up before running hard. But either I wasn't very clear, or he had selective hearing because we'd regularly have conversations like this:

Dave: You told me I should never stretch!

Jon: Did I say that? I THINK what I said was that warming up before a hard workout is more important than static stretching.

Dave: I'm not doing those drills... The last time you made me do those drills, I pulled my hamstring and couldn't run for a week.

Jon: Well, you need to warm up FIRST, before you do the drills.

Dave: [glares suspiciously] Coach, why are you trying to kill me?

Sometimes, I know, I say too much. I'll get carried away talking about some current hotshot runner or some legend from the past and I'll start talking about their workouts. Do this in front of a group of high school distance runners and the next thing you know they're trying to talk you into some completely extreme workout idea or training schedule, convinced that "it will be fun" and that it must hold the secret to running faster.

"I thought you told us we should be running 70 miles a week!"

"Did I say that? No, I think what I said was that so-and-so was able to run 70 miles a week because he built up his mileage gradually over four years..."

And so on.

It never ceases to amaze me that my words carry so much weight. And yet, I have had numerous examples of the influence that even casual words have had on athletes I have coached. It is a great responsibility to have people actually listen closely to what you say and change their behavior because of it. Perhaps the most memorable example was one time when I was talking about learning to handle discomfort. I described my own boyhood attempts to make myself tougher by learning to take cold showers (I have no idea where this idea came from and I know it wasn't successful).

The next day, one of my runners came to practice practically cursing at me. He had taken a shower after the previous day's practice and, with the water gushing hot, had bravely swung the faucet all the way in the opposite direction.

Now he was glaring at me. "Coach," he said, "why are you trying to kill me?"

David Wilder Kicks Them All Down

Track and field is not exactly a big part of the athletics program at Concord Academy. In fact, the Fighting Chameleons have never fielded a track team. That changed a little this spring with the introduction of a track club that met once a week. Even so, most of the kids who came out weren't much interested in actual competition.

The exception was David Wilder.

David was Concord's best cross-country runner in the fall, finishing 7th in the EIL League Meet, but he seemed particularly well-suited to the intensity of track races. He liked to see how hard he could push himself, and he liked nothing better than to be in a close race, battling someone for the lead with 200 meters to go. He stayed in shape over the winter, and this spring told me that he wanted to run a fast mile.

This was easier said than done. With no team and no meets on the schedule, it was a challenge to find opportunities for David to run. A few weeks ago we attended a meet for "homeless" track teams - team without tracks of their own. David ran the 1500m and finished fourth in 4:39 (a 5:00 mile). He had followed my advice and had gone out at a "reasonable" 71-72 seconds for the first quarter. Unfortunately, the leaders had run 67-68 and he was never in the hunt. He decided that next time he would stick with the leaders no matter what.

On Saturday, we drove down to Portsmouth, RI, for the SENE/EIL Championship meet. David was entered in the 1500m and the discus. I know that this is an unusual double, but David makes it work. He learned how to throw the discus in middle school from an exceptional throws coach, and his form is impeccable. With a team of one, it helps to be able to compete in multiple events!

It was windy at the start of the 1500. When the gun went off, the field of runners sprinted down the backstretch jockeying for position. David, whose had exactly one race worth of experience, expertly positioned himself in about 5th, staying in the second lane and out of trouble. The first 200 was about 31.5 for the leaders, with David about a second back.

When the leaders hit the headwind on the first turn, everything slowed, and David moved up into fourth. The quarter passed in 67, very fast for someone who had run 5:00 pace two weeks earlier! David had said he didn't want to be cheated in this race and wanted to finish with nothing left. All right, I thought, so far so good.

At the half, passed in 2:21, the race was down to three runners, with David hanging on to third. I thought it was 50-50 that the top two would pull away. It was very windy, and they probably didn't want to expend any extra effort at that point, but I, knowing the ferocity of David's kick, thought they might regret that decision.

As the leaders passed 1200 in 3:32, they were starting to accelerate for the final drive to the finish. There was a little gap, but they had not succeeded in getting rid of the lone representative of the CA track team. With a little over 200m, he was right there, still stalking the leaders, still waiting for the moment to make one really good move.



Watching the race unfold, my concern was that one of the two leaders would move first and open up a gap that would be unbridgeable. But with 150m to go, David seized the initiative, accelerating into the lead. Too soon? As he came around the final turn and saw all that empty tartan in front of him, he reached top speed. Later, he would tell me that he was pushing so hard because he didn't want to get caught, but with 50m to go he was pulling away.



David crossed the line in 4:25.4, a 14-second PR and roughly equivalent to a 4:45 mile. His 10 points in the 1500m would be enough to beat two other schools in the team scoring of the meet. Later he would add a 3rd place in the discus (throwing 97') for another 6 points.

After the 1500, I told David that he executed the race perfectly. But execution is one thing, the desire to finish the race with nothing left is something else again. Sticking with the leaders through that opening lap took guts. Not letting them get away took determination. The kick -- well, that was pretty cool, too.

Adam Bao (TJ and Two Relays) Shines at State Coaches

Here we go again--I can't find the results for the Boys State Coaches meet online and I have to rely on the agate type in the Boston Globe for NN boys performances.

Well, agate or not, Adam Bao was huge at the State Coaches Meet. He won the triple jump by half a foot (43-5.5), helped NN's 4x100 relay team finish second (by 0.12) to Woburn in 43.93, and ran a leg for NN's victorious 4x400 relay (3:30.23). So why wasn't he the outstanding performer of the meet? That award went to Woburn's Chris Martin who tied for first in the long jump (21-11.5), and ran a leg on Woburn's 4x100 team. What am I missing? Bao had an outright victory, a relay victory, and a relay second-place; Martin a tie for first, a relay victory, and earns the outstanding performer award and three paragraphs in the Globe. I don't get it.

Well Adam, if you read this, you're my choice for Performer of the Meet.

And while I'm whining, what would it take for the Globe to have slightly less lame coverage of H.S. track meets? Here's what we got in Sunday's paper: four limp paragraphs on what sounds like a boring 800, three on Chris Martin (in which our correspondent tells us that Woburn's time of 43.81 is "just short of the meet record of 43.10"), two paragraphs on the 200, two on the mile, and 29 words for the rest of the meet. Hey, if you competed in the 100, 400, 2-Mile, 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, triple jump, pole vault, or any of the throws, no coverage for you. The Globe even omits the 400 results entirely. Oh well, at least they had three pages and five articles about the Celtics 24-point loss to the Cavaliers.

Other medal-winners for Newton North included Seb Putzeys, who placed second in the mile (4:25.39) and Sam Arsenault, who placed 3rd in the 300 hurdles (41.23) and 4th in the long jump (21-5.5). I'm sure there were other fine performances for the Tigers, but they didn't make the Globe. Maybe the Daily News Tribune will have more detail.

Has the State Coaches meet started losing its mojo? I always thought it was a big deal kind of meet, but the Newton North girls chose not to compete, and many of the best performances of the weekend happened at Collins-McIntyre Invitational at Andover (At Andover, there were eight runners in the 2-mile with faster times than the winning time at the State Coaches meet, led by a blistering 9:19.95 from Brookline's David Wilson; in the girl's 2-mile, Newton South's Bridget Dahlberg and Kelsey Karys were way faster than anyone at State Coaches...).

NNHS Alumni Results - May 10, 2008

Doug Brecher: 31:15 10K at New Englands!

Doug Brecher ran 5:02 pace for 6+ miles to place sixth overall in the New England Championships in a personal best time of 31:15.65.

David Smith: Three Events at Heps

The Ivy League championships (Heptagonals) were this weekend and Yale freshman David Smith competed in three events. In the shot put, he threw 14.59 (47-10.5); in the discus, 39.02 (128'); and in the hammer, 39.88 (130-10).

Natalie Du Toit Qualifies for Beijing Olympics

I've written previously about the Olympic dreams of Oscar Pistorius, the South African sprinter and double amputee. Pistorius runs with the aid of prosthetic lower limbs, and the legality of these devices has been a matter of scientific and philosophical debate.

But I completely missed the story of Natalie Du Toit, a South African swimmer and single-leg amputee. Du Toit swims without a prosthesis and on May 3 she qualified for the Beijing Olympics by finishing fourth in the 10km race in the Open Water World Championships in Seville, Spain.

Du Toit surprise at Beijing place

An aspiring world-class swimmer before a collision with a car destroyed her left leg in 2001, Du Toit has never abandoned her dream of competing at the Olympics. Somehow it seems fitting that she would qualify in the 10k open water swim -- which will be contested for the first time in Beijing -- as it is the most grueling swimming event on the program.

On her web site, Du Toit lists two goals: one, to swim in the Olympics, and two, to be able to run. One down, one to go.

What Can We Learn From Sled Dogs?

This is why I love reading the NY Times Science pages. Tuesday's issue has an article that describes how the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) is studying sled dogs to find out why the heck they don't collapse with fatigue despite maintaining an extended caloric burn rate that puts Tour de France cyclists to shame.

Researchers Seek to Demystify the Metabolic Magic of Sled Dogs

The dogs endurance abilities are legendary, but even so the details are staggering: when competing in the Iditarod, a multi-week trek over 1100 miles of Arctic trail, the dogs burn 240 calories per pound per day, 2.4 times the metabolic burn rate Lance Armstrong maintains when touring the Pyrenees, and yet somehow they do not exhaust their reserves of fat and glycogen.

Dr. Michael Davis that there is a biological "switch" that the dogs turn on that makes them such great athletes on the trail. He also believes that other species might have the same ability to activate this switch.

"They have a hidden strategy that they can turn on," he said. “We are confident that humans have the capacity for that strategy. We have to figure out how dogs are turning it on to turn it on in humans."

Or is it possible the dogs are just more motivated than other species?

As I read, I couldn't help remembering the incredible passage from Jack London's "Call of the Wild," describing a dog who kept wanting to pull the sled, even unto death:

"He pleaded with his eyes to remain there. The driver was perplexed. His comrades talked of how a dog could break its heart through being denied the work that killed it, and recalled instances they had known, where dogs, too old for the toil, or injured, had died because they were cut out of the traces. Also, they held it a mercy, since Dave was to die anyway, that he should die in the traces, heart-easy and content. So he was harnessed in again, and proudly he pulled as of old, though more than once he cried out involuntarily from the bite of his inward hurt. Several times fell down and was dragged in the traces, and once the sled ran upon him so that he limped thereafter on one of his hind legs.

But he held out till camp was reached, when his driver made a place for him by the fire. Morning found him too weak to travel. At harness-up time he tried to crawl to his driver. By convulsive efforts he got on his feet, staggered, and fell. Then he wormed his way forward slowly toward where the harnesses were being put on his mates. He would advance his fore legs and drag up his body with a sort of hitching movement, when he would advance his fore legs and hitch ahead again for a few more inches. His strength left him, and the last his mates saw of him he lay gasping in the snow and yearning toward them."

I've known runners like that.

North Boys, Girls at 6-0 With Wins Over Needham

For many of North's athletes it was their third meet in six days. No matter, as both Tiger teams ran, jumped, and threw their way to triple digits in twin victories over Needham Monday afternoon.

For the boys, there were BSC-best performances from Sam Arsenault in the high jump (6-4) and Adam Bao in the triple jump (PB 45-9). Arsenault also won the 300 hurdles in 41.1, while Bao won the long jump in 20-6. Seb Putzeys also won two events, as he pulled off the challenging 400/800 double, running 52.9 for the 400, and coming back to run 2:09 in the 800.

North's Dan Giovanucci won the shot put (45-4), making three North shot putters over 45' in the last week, while E.J. Metallides took the discus. Jared Forman ran a PR 4:43.5 to win the mile. The tireless Dan Hamilton won the two-mile (running his third deuce since last Wednesday. Troy Peterson won the 100 and Hymlaire Lamisere won the 200. Final score: 106-30 Newton North.

For the girls, Weston just seems to have revved them up. Michelle Kaufman was everywhere again, winning four events, including the 100m hurdles in a personal best 15.9. Carolyn Ranti has apparently become a sprinter, as she won the 200 and 400 (the latter in a personal best 60.8). Bonny Guang won the shot put (30-8) and discus (91-0), and Emily Hutchinson pulled off an unusual double, winning the javelin and high jump. This, you might say, is a versatile team.

North wraps up its dual meet season next Tuesday at Framingham, hoping to clinch league titles. But first there's the State Coaches Invitational meets on Saturday. The boys will be at Durfee and the girls at Somerville.

This Day and Age

I know it's my own fault for not attending the Weston Invitational, but I've become impatient with meets that in this day and age still can't get it together to provide online results within, say, 24 hours of the end of the meet. What's a harried Internet journalist to do? Actually go to the meets and keep detailed notes?

As it is, I rely on hints from the DyeStat message boards, local papers with their spotty coverage, and other blog sites. But none of them makes up for not having access to the actual results.

By the way, Henry Finch and the other folks that contribute to the Newton South Running Times did their usual great job getting photos of the meet. Here's a photo from Henry showing Newton South junior Bridget Dahlberg pulling away from Emily Jones in the final straight of the girls mile. According to the DyeStat boards, Dahlberg ran 4:55 with Jones a couple of seconds back. From the picture, it also looks like a Marshfield (?) runner and Lincoln-Sudbury runner (Emily Mepham?) are on their way to excellent times, as well.



Here's another good picture of a Newton North shot putter (Ed Metallides?)... It just shows how out of touch I am that I don't know for sure...



Sure would be nice to have those results!

And while I'm whining about the hard life I lead tracking down times, let me say that I am reserving a special place in Hell for the college administrators who have chosen to host their athletic web pages on for-profit servers with countless pop-up ads and annoying audio promotions. Sorry, Noah, I hate visiting the Bluejay sports pages and I always feel like I should run an anti-virus scan after I've spent fifteen minutes looking for your results. And the video reports from Arkansas' hog-wired site? It's this kind of thing that gives bandwidth a bad name.

But back to Weston. I know it's hard work to get results out, but this is their 11th year. Wouldn't you think they'd have some sort of system by now? Or has the meet grown too popular for the "low-key" way that it's run? It just seems a shame when you go to all the trouble to assemble a meet with some of the best H.S. athletes in mass. and then can't tell the world how fast they ran, how far they threw, how long and how high they jumped.

NNHS Alumni Results - May 3, 2008

I was delighted to see that Pat Pierce, NNHS '04 and now a senior at Bowdoin College, placed 9th in the 10000m at the New England Div III championships with a time of 32:22.24, 80 seconds faster than his previous season's best time from two weeks ago. Pat has patiently worked through several injuries during his college career and it is great to see him racing well again. In the same race were two other former Bay Staters: Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot (Brookline, now Tufts) ran 32:25.29 for 11th, and Philip Gingras (Walpole, now Westfield State) ran 32:58.96 for 20th.

Anyone know where Doug Brecher was? I hope he's not injured...

Also competing at the NE DIII meet, held at the Coast Guard Academy, was Stephanie O'Brien, who won her heat of the 800 in 2:19.17 to place 9th overall.

Today (Sunday) is the second day of several conference meets (Centennial, America East), as well as the Stanford Cardinal Invitational. I'm looking forward to adding results for Noah Jampol, Dave Polgar, and Chris Barnicle (scheduled to run the 10K at Stanford).

Edit:

Dave Polgar ran 3:58.55 for 1500m to place 12th at the America East Championships.

Noah Jampol ran 4:16.25 to place 18th in the Centennial Conference championships.

In the NY State Collegiate Championships, Dan Chebot ran 15:43.05 in the 5000m.

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And from the world of road running, Josh Seeherman took to the paved pathways of Wakefield to finish 7th in the 26th Annual Breakheart 6k Road Race in a time of 22:05.

Weston Twilight Meet Preview

Cool temperatures, overcast skies, and scattered showers are in the forecast most of the day, with the chance of partial clearing towards evening -- conditions that will make for chilly spectating at the Weston Twilight meet.

Even on warm spring days, you need to wear warm clothes for Weston. The meet begins in the late afternoon (4:30 for the field events, 5:00 for the running), and continues into the dark, and it can be COLD! It doesn't help that the meet notoriously runs behind schedule, making it tricky to know when to warm up.

Last year's meet featured a breakthrough performance for Carolyn Ranti in the 800 (to take second), and a tremendous race in the girls 2-Mile, with Emily Jones holding off Jess Barton, and both well ahead of Bridget Dahlberg and Colleen Weatherbee.

Jones and Dahlberg are back, but entered in the mile this time, along with All-State indoor 1000m champ Emily Mepham. Odd as it seems, although Dahlberg has won three state titles in the mile, she might be considered the underdog against Jones. It should be a great race. In the girls 2-Mile, state runner-up Kelsey Karys will take on state 3rd-place finisher Rebecca White. Although Karys has a seed time twenty seconds faster, this should be a closer race than that. In all, there are nine girls seeded faster than 11:30. Tenth seed is Newton North freshman Margo Gillis. It will fascinating to see how she handles what is sure to be a demanding pace.

Omar Aden will be the heavy favorite in the boys mile. Aden, the All-State champ is seeded at 4:13, eight seconds faster than Dracut's Dan Roarke. Actually, Aden's main competition is likely to come from Chelmsford's Chris Brown. If the weather is cold and even a little bit breezy, I don't expect a really fast time but it should be a good race.

Bay State rivals Seb Putzeys and Robert Gibson will tangle again in the boys 800, and will be joined by "Lil Stizz" -- Wayland's Brett Stein. Gibson beat Putzeys in the team's dual meet a couple of weeks ago, but everyone should be a bit faster now.

Carolyn Ranti is in 800 again where she'll take on Lincoln-Sudbury's Ellie Hylton and Newton South's Diana Braver.

One of the deepest fields, at least going by the seed times, is the girls 400m. It's hard for me to believe that Emma Kornetsky is seeded only 13th with a 60.80!

The girls long jump is also very deep, with 23 athletes seeded at 15-0 or better! Coaches' exaggeration? I suspect so, but there's no question it is a good field. Seventh-seeded Allison Hollland (Watertown) finished fourth in the indoor All-State meet.

This year's meet entries

Last year's Weston results

North Sweeps Braintree

Delayed a day because of Tuesday's rain, Newton North made another long trip South on Rt. 128 Wednesday to sweep Braintree. The Tiger boys won twelve individual events and outscored the Wamps 105 to 31. The girls were only slightly less dominant, winning both relays and eight individual events to win by a score of 90-46. Both teams are now 5-0 with only Needham and Framingham standing in the way of undefeated seasons.

For the boys, Adam Bao won three individual events (400, long jump, triple jump) and ran the 3rd leg of the winning 4x400 relay. Sam Arsenault (high jump, 300m hurdles) and Steve Long (shot put, discus) won two events each. Hymlaire Lamisere (100), Ivan Kostadinov (200), Seb Putzeys (800), Dan Hamilton (2-Mile), and Ben Klein (Jav) all won their events.

For the girls, Michelle Kaufman had her usual busy day at the office, winning two events (100, 300 hurdles) and placing second in two others (long jump and triple jump). Other winners for North included Vicki Marone (long jump), Nora Barnicle (800), Carolyn Ranti (mile), Franca Godenzi (2-Mile), Paris Mongo (discus), and Bonny Guang (shot put).

Many of the Tigers will compete at the Weston Twilight Meet on Saturday night. Next Tuesday, May 6, the Tigers continue their Bay State road trip, competing at Needham.