Teamplayer

This weekend I had the most fun racing in a very long time.  On the schedule this weekend was the Christmas Dash for Cash 10k in Chambersburg, PA.  What made this race special was the chance to compete as a team with the other members of Keystone Elite and the chance to win a nice $1200 first prize to be split between the four members of the team.  My team was composed of Jeremy Brady, Katie O'Regan, and Rosie Mascoli.  Going into the race, we liked our chances, but knew there would be tough competition from Team Hydroworx who was led by two pretty talented runners in Brian Fuller and Mary Dell.

We got to the race early and warmed up together and talked strategy.  It was a nice change to my typical prerace routine which involves warming up by myself and getting myself nervous about the race.  This was different as all the talk about the team competition and who we needed to beat got me very amped up and ready to go out and race.  Going into the race, we thought that if I could beat the number one runner from Hydroworx and if Katie and Rosie could keep it close to Mary Dell and beat Hydroworx' second girl we would pull out the win.  As we stood at the starting line, I felt something that I have not really felt since running cross country or racing against Lehigh in the track dual meets - a sense that I could not let my team down.

The race started out as I expected it would.  I went straight to the front with Matt Gillette, a fine runner from Shippensburg who I knew would be very tough to beat.  He and I led the field through a very pedestrian first mile of 5:10.  I had no idea what to expect from the course as the only description I had heard of it was "rolling."  With no idea what was in store ahead on the road, I was content to keep the pace comfortable, surging a little to test the rest of the guys tucked in behind us.  Everyone seemed to handle the slight surges easily, so I did not try and push anything too much early on in the race.  We hit 2 miles in 10:12, coming down a hill into the Scotland School campus.  This was where Gillette made a significant surge to try and break open the race.  I have always been a poor downhill runner, and he seemed to gap me effortlessly.

It was at this time that Brian Fuller also went screaming by me.  I realized these two were significantly better downhill runners than myself.  I felt like I was going all out to even maintain the gap they had opened on me.  As the gap opened, I began to feel a little down on myself and had some negative thoughts.  I snapped myself out of it as I remembered the team competition.  I would not give up and let the rest of my team who was working hard behind me down.  I put my head down and went to work on the uphills that followed in the 3rd and 4th mile.

I gained on Fuller and passed him right around the 4 mile mark.  My split between 2 and 4 was a very fast 9:44, and I felt that I was beginning to gain on Gillette ahead in first place.  I worked hard on the uphills of the 5th mile and had the gap down to around 5 seconds.  At this point, all that was on my mind was trying to put as much ground on the runners behind me to help out in the team competition.  I was still trying hard to make up ground for the individual win, but just couldn't match Gillette's downhill running ability (the kid is 6'-6" so I don't really feel to bad about it).  I closed the last 2k of the race in 6:01 to finish in 31:01.  I really did not expect to be so close to breaking 31 for a road 10k as my track PR is only 30:48.  Had I been paying more attention to my watch I would have sold out a little more for those 2 seconds.

I finished 30 seconds ahead of the Hydroworx leader, but the race for the team title was far from over.  I turned into the biggest cheerleader in Chambersburg and started going crazy as I saw Jeremy come over the final hill several seconds ahead of the 2nd runner for Hydroworx.  I was running around yelling and cheering him on as he kicked in for 33:51.  I really felt proud of the fight he showed the whole race to bring in a solid #2 finish for our team.  Our girls then clinched the victory for us with two really great races.  Katie kept it very close with Mary Dell who is a national caliber runner and PR'ed by a ton to run 35:07.  Rosic sealed the victory by beating the 2nd Hydroworx girl by over 30 seconds in 36:27, another very good time on a tough course.

As we added up the times, we knew we had won the race.  It was great to celebrate the win on the cooldown together.  I had forgotten how much of a boost running for a team gives you.  Some of the biggest kicks I can remember while running came on the high school 4x8 relays.  With that stick in your hand, you cannot accept defeat as easily as without.  Running is such a solitary sport, and it can be selfish at times.  What time did I run? What place did I get?  Who did I beat?  But when you run for a team, there is a totally different feeling.  There's and extra fight in you and a refusal to be beat.  It isn't about you, but rather the team.  When I finished the race, I hardly cared that I had nearly broken my track PR on a hilly road course.  All I wanted to do was cheer for my teammates and see how they finished.

I was really reminded what I first really loved about running.  I started out in high school as a cross country runner only, and always ran my best in races where I knew I was counted on to help clinch the victory.  I actually believe some of my gutsiest races came when I was just a mediocre #3 or #4 high school runner on a good team.  In this position you just can't let the seniors down.  In college, I just never really had that feeling.  In a big invitational, I knew my team wasn't going to place very high and neither was I.  It just didn't seem to matter as much, and I missed the pressure to win as a team.  It just doesn't feel that important to fight for 120th or 140th place in a big time D-1 invitational.  Even in a big road race when you are running by yourself doesn't feel the same.  The "You are not beating me no matter what" feeling is a little harder to find (although the cash payout does help bring that out).  Growing up playing team sports has wired me much differently than athletes who have primarily focused on individual sports.  There is no describing the feeling of winning as a team.  My all time favorite team moment came when my Lafayette College Leopards XC team finally exited the Patriot League basement my senior year.  In a blizzard, our top three pushed each other the whole race and then turned to go crazy as the rest of our scoring runners fought to the line.  Finally not finishing last as a team felt so good.  Our pack ran so well that day because we knew what was a stake that day (the fact that there were Andre bottles in the fridge waiting to be popped after a good race might have motivated us a little bit too.  Andre would have been pissed at us if we finished last, and you can never let Andre down.).

There is truly something special about racing as a team.  Your time doesn't matter.  All that matters is putting it all on the line for your teammates.  I can't wait for the next time Keystone Elite toes the line together!

 (L to R): Jeremy Brady, Rosie Mascoli, Katie O'Regan, yours truly

 Money to the Cielin, Money Over Errythin, FBGM...you know the deal

The whole KTC contingent who raced at the Cash Dash

I Pity You, Mr. Stafko

Last week, Chad Stafko wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal entitled "OK, You're a Runner.  Get Over It" with the subtitle "Running a marathon is hard enough without also patting yourself on the back every step of the way."  I won't do Mr. Stafko the favor of posting a link to his drivel, as I'm sure it has already far exceeded the number of readers it actually deserves.

In his piece, Stafko calls out runners for being insufferable, skinny showoffs.  He calls us out for having our own magazines, clothing, and even specialized stores in which to buy that clothing.  Worst of all, he calls us out for being proud of our accomplishments as runners.  I imagine he would like to rip that extremely obnoxious 26.2 sticker off of your bumper sticker.  Even worse, he decries the act of running as only a chance for the highly narcissistic runner to parade throughout their neighborhood rubbing their fitness in the faces of their sedentary neighbors.  I know this is the only reason I continue running and I am positive it is the same reason that gets so many runners out the door.

I cannot believe this article made it to the Wall Street Journal, but somehow it did.  This piece gives us as runners a chance to defend our sport against a highly ignorant American.  Running is so much more than a chance to show off, and this is what someone who has never given the sport a chance fails to understand.  Anyone who finishes a marathon accomplishes something to be proud of.  I have stood at the finish lines of marathons after finishing to cheer on my fellow runners.  After I finished the Vermont Marathon this spring in 2:22, I felt extreme pride in what I had accomplished.  I have seen pictures of myself as I crossed the finish line and saw my time.  The look of pride on my face is undeniable.  As I stood around the finish cheering on everyone else, I realized that every finisher had the same look on their face.

Maybe Mr. Stafko has never tried running and has no idea why people would do it.  I would be glad to offer some insight to this poor man.  I run because I love it.  I don't give a damn who sees me or congratulates me on a race.  I have loved to run ever since I discovered I had a talent for it.  There is no feeling in sport that compares to the freedom and clarity you can feel on a run, out by yourself and your thoughts, your body flowing over the ground.  Yes, training makes you incredibly tired at times, and there are plenty of times I question why I keep pounding myself into the ground.  The reason - that indescribable feeling of pride and accomplishment that comes at the end of a well run race.

Do we as runners toot our own horn sometimes?  Hell yeah.  Should we?  Hell yeah.  Runners are some of the most humble athletes I have ever been around.  I have played baseball and football.  Athletes in those sports do not compare to runners one bit when it comes to team spirit and camaraderie.  There is something to be said for the bonds that are formed between runners as they push through their training together.  You will never find a runner who will not sincerely ask another runner how their race went.  When we do this, we are not simply performing lip service.  We really care.  I would rather listen to a friend tell me about their great race than brag about my own.  We do not beat our chests and spew bravado like other athletes.  We simply perform the most basic mode of human transportation because it feels good.

When you view running through such a cynical lens, you miss a lot.  You miss the stories of injured soldiers and firefighters returning to the starting line, prosthetics and all.  You miss the story of a California runner who crawled through the final straightaway of the race, struggling to finish and clinch a state title for a team whose coach is battling ALS.  You miss the story of Joey Stoltz, a member of my club, who has battled back from heart trouble to finish several marathons.

So, to you, Mr. Stafko, I say give running a chance.  You could even stop into one of those silly specialty running stores.  I'm sure the workers of the store won't recognize you and would be more than willing to help you into a new pair of shoes and shorts. 

Philadephia Half Marathon Recap

In running, like life, it is important to operate with a healthy dose of confidence in everything that you do.  The problems arise when that necessary confidence gets mixed with too much cockiness.  In my opinion, a healthy bit of cockiness isn't always a bad thing.  When I step on the line to race, and I look over at my competitors, I always think I can beat them (unless they weigh 110 pounds and hail from Eldoret).  I was not always so cocky when it comes to running, but in the past several months as I have entered the road racing scene, where seed times and past performances are not so well known, I find myself looking at all runners on the line with me and expecting to beat them.  I also have heightened expectations for myself as I continue to chase truly elite times.  It's ok to be cocky - and most elite athletes are - so long as you are prepared to back up that cockiness with preparation.

This Sunday at the Philadelphia Half Marathon, I just simply wasn't ready to back it up.

My training leading up to the race was solid, but there just wasn't enough of it.  The delayed start to serious training caused by the long recovery from the USA Half and the problems with varicose veins that affected me in August left me a little bit behind in terms of half marathon fitness.  Without sufficient long and tempo runs under my belt, my body was ready to shut down right around 10k - not good when the race is double that distance.

The race started out well enough.  The pack of East Africans jetted off the line, leaving the Americans to sort themselves out.  I found myself in an unenviable position of not really having anyone to run with.  There was a group of runners on sub 1:05 pace, myself and another runner running 1:06 pace, and then a wide gap back to the runners running 1:08 pace.  Early in the race, I decided the best opportunity to run well would be to try and stick on 1:06 pace with my fellow runner as long as I could.  The first mile was hit right at 5:00 and I still felt fairly good, but I could tell it was unlikely that I could sustain 5 flat pace the whole race.  I tried to back off a little to the 5:05-5:10's I was shooting for, but the runner I was with did not back off and chased down the next group ahead.  That left me alone at a very early stage in the race and put me in chase mode far earlier than I had hoped.  I maintained a gap with the group ahead of me and came through 3 miles in 14:55.  It was at this point that I began to feel the effects of running alone as I was not able to relax and get comfortable in a bigger group and just coast.  I kept things together reasonably well through 5 miles in 25:20 and 10K in 31:44, but the wheels were off at this point as I hit some inclines in Center City Philadelphia and University City.

My race ended for all intents and purposes when I hit the steep incline near Drexel University.  I felt like I was crawling up this interminable hill.  The 8th mile passed in 5:35 for me - essentially a crawl after previously running 5:00-5:15 pace.  The 9th mile was a little better as I coasted downhill past the zoo.  The 10th mile, however, was the real kicker.  I managed an abysmal 5:40 as I climed through Fairmount Park.  At this point, I did not really see the point of finishing the race, but dropping out of races is something I refuse to do so long as I am not injured.  To me, dropping out is a true sign of quitting on yourself.

Things rebounded slightly as I hit the final 3 miles along the river.  I managed to bring the pace back down to 5:15-5:20 as the hills were finally over.  I made a pact with myself that I would pass as many people as I could before the finish.  If there is one thing I hate more than losing, it is losing to people I know I should never lose to.  It may sound arrogant to say, but I expect too much from myself to accept losing to 1:09 runners when I know my ability lies in the 1:06-1:07 range.  The anger I felt about losing lit a little fire under me and I passed 3 or 4 runners before the finish in a final disappointing time of 1:09:21.

What did I learn from this race?  Well, for one, I learned that you can't fake it in a half marathon.  I am certainly very fit as I was able to run close to 5:00 pace for close to 5 miles, but being fit for 5 miles is nowhere near the same as being fit for a half marathon.  I do believe I was on the right track to running a good half marathon this season, but was just a few weeks and a few long tempo runs away from being really ready to race a half marathon.  I also learned I can't just step on a starting line and expect to beat everyone even though I have the ability to be highly competitive on the elite road racing scene.  There are simply people out there who are faster than me, especially when I am not on my A-game.

Overall, I can't be too displeased with the result of the race.  I got an idea of where my current level of fitness is, got a hard effort in which will only help me improve, and fought hard to the finish.  I am going to take a somewhat easy week to let my body bounce back a little bit from the race, and then get right back to training at a high level.  One good thing about only having 6 weeks of good training for this race is that my body won't need a very long time to rest before I can return to hard runs and workouts.  My next big race will be the Virginia Beach Marathon in March and I am very excited to try some new workouts as I get ready for another marathon.

Ready to Race!

I know my posts have been a bit sporadic the past several months, but my life has been very busy.  I've started a new job, bought a house, and have been working on planning a wedding with my fiancee.  Trying to squeeze in 90 miles a week with all that going on doesn't leave too much time for blogging about those miles.  All that aside, my training went very well as I prepared for the Philadelphia Half Marathon.

Last spring as I trained for the Vermont City Marathon, I was consistently putting in close to 110 miles per week.  I would have loved to keep my mileage at that level, but with everything going on, it would have just been too much for me.  I also don't necessarily think I need to run that many miles a week to succeed.  I have always loved running hard day in and day out.  Averaging low 6:00 pace for an entire week of distance runs is not uncommon.  When I was hitting over 100 miles a week, I was often too tired to train the way I preferred.  I believe toning down my volume to 80-90 miles a week with the intensity raised back to a level I prefer has the same benefits of training 110 miles a week.  I feel much fresher and don't feel like I am constantly on the verge of breakdown like I did this spring.

My expectations for the race this weekend are not extremely high, and I am not putting too much pressure on myself given the fact that I have had only 8 solid weeks of training leading into the race.  My training this summer got off to a late start due to how long it took me to recover from my spring races.  My legs did not feel good running until the end of August.  Part of this was due to over-racing in the spring and then taking on new responsibilities with my new company.  I spent much of July and August inspecting bridges in Maryland.  Being on your feet for 8 hours a day in the sweltering heat is not exactly good for the body's recovery!

But my body did finally come around, and my desire to train hard and race at a high level was as strong as it ever was.  My training was very simple.  I ran twice a day 3 or 4 times a week and took one day of decreased mileage.  My workouts were primarily aerobic - threshold pace intervals with short rest and tempo runs - and my training runs were run comfortably hard each day.  I believe this type of training has prepared me very well to race well for a half marathon.  I kept the rest very short on all of my workouts and felt very comfortable running at 5:00 to 5:05 pace.  I also touched on some shorter speed intervals at the end of my workouts and felt very quick which should serve me well for the later stages of the race when it's time to call on the fast twitch muscles to carry some of the load and keep me moving forward.

#investinUSAtrack

One of my favorite professional runners, David Torrence, added his two cents to the debate over track and field this week.  I need to preface this post with a little back story on just what makes Torrence one of my favorite athletes.  Torrence became one of the favorite runners of my college team after we watched and heard the story of his journey from unattached post collegiate searching for his first contract to one of our country's best milers (by end of season rankings alone, his 3:33.23 is the 2nd fastest in the country this year and has won several national titles in the road mile).  David is an incredibly accessible athlete who takes the time to get to know his fans and interact with them.  At the 2011 New York Diamond League meet, my Lafayette teammates and I were lucky enough to meet David after witnessing his first victory in the Diamond League.  He was incredibly grateful for our support at the meet and did more than just pose for the customary athlete photo-op.  David further cemented his favorite athlete status two summers ago.  My friend Matt and I were in San Francisco, Torrence's training base and home.  We sent out a tweet to him asking to set up a downhill mile in the hills of the city (although since Budweiser had become the official drink of Matt and Josh's West Coast trip I don't know how well such a race would have gone).  He responded to us right away trying to set up a place for us to race a mile downhill.  Alas, my noob status on Twitter caused me to miss out on his direct message (who knew the direct message feature could be used for more than sending explicit pictures?).  I made up my blunder to Matt later in Eugene when Torrence was gracious enough to share several pitchers with us at the Wild Duck.  I believe the highlight of the trip for Matt will always be discussing South American politics and economics while slightly inebriated with a professional runner.

Torrence's comments on letsrun.com came in response to Runner's World columnist John Bingham calling on elites to show more interest in the back of the pack runners like himself and do more in general for the sport.  Certainly, Bingham believes that would make them beloved by their waddling, tutu wearing brethren.  I do not believe there could be a more misguided opinion.  Torrence is just one of many professional track and field athletes who does an incredible amount of work to interact with his fans.  Duane Solomon flooded my Twitter feed yesterday retweeting possibly every person who tweeted about meeting him at a cross country meet.   Could you imagine LeBron James trying to set up a pick up game with two random fans and then meeting up with them in a bar?

So, no, Mr. Bingham, track and field's problems will not be solved by having professional athletes wait for everyone else to finish their 5 hour marathon (sorry if I sound snarky here, but a marathon is a race to me, not a bucket list item).  Many athletes in the sport set up races where they live and make appearances at local running stores and running club meetings.  Yet, they still go unrecognized in almost every city in America (except for Eugene - a city in which I did not see a single person with a waist measurement exceeding their inseam.  Could it be possible that the sport is embraced there because the people are actually in shape?).

The answer is not simply sending our runners out to cheer on the average Joes and hobby joggers, because to most of them, David Torrence is just a skinny dude with a beard who maybe looks like he runs fast (or at least really cares a lot about looking like a runner with all those matching warm ups and fancy shoes).  What really needs to be done first is to build the athletes we in the sport (and I'm talking track and field here because road racing is an entirely different beast) follow and root for into figures that the average person would recognize or feel excited about meeting.  I don't really know how that can be done in our football obsessed nation where a man pushing 400 lbs. is considered more athletic than a runner like me, but since the only way we can get there and improve the sport is to try.  David Torrence asked his followers to contribute using #investinUSAtrack and here is my best attempt at investing in the sport that means so much to me.

1.  Ditch the meters.  We run miles here in the good old US of A.  I know everyone else in the world uses the metric system as does the sport's governing body.  However, if you want to be relevant in the US, you need to use units that most fans understand.  Yes, I know that 5,000 meters is 3.1 miles and that a 12:55 5k is 4:09 per mile, but if you race 3 miles instead, many more people would understand that a time of 12:30 is absolutely hauling ass.

2.  Add more domestic meets.  If you are a fan of professional track and field in the USA you have two or three chances to go to a really big meet each year.  There are two Diamond League meets and a national championship as well as several small indoor meets.  That's it.  If you don't live anywhere near Oregon, your best bet is to go to New York City for its Diamond League meet.  That's great for me since I live on the East Coast, but for most fans of the sport there are absolutely zero opportunities to attend a professional track meet.  Contrast that with the fans of a professional baseball team.  Those fans have 81 chances to see their team play every year.  We are never going to see 81 elite track meets in a season, but we have got to get away from sending our athletes to Europe every summer.

I believe adding more big races on native soil is the number one way to grow the sport in this country.  NBC and ESPN are never in a million years going to pay big money or use resources putting together a broadcast for a meet in Doha, Oslo, Monaco, or Rieti no matter the quality of the field.  I realize these are all very good meets, but if they are not happening on US soil, casual fans do not care.  Give more people a chance to attend a meet and I believe they will become more interested.  They need to see and experience the speed and feats of raw human strength track and field athletes are able to push their bodies to.  Live sports of any kind are always fun to watch for any red blooded male.  Domestic meets are also a great opportunity for young fans to discover the sport.  Track and field is one of, if not, the most participated in sport in high school athletics, but most of those runners will never have a chance to attend a professional meet.  As a high schooler, I could not have named five professional distance runners and I was 3rd in the state my senior year. 

The European meets work well because travel is so much easier between cities and countries thanks to their rail system (Eisenhower really screwed the pooch with that Interstate system).  Europe also has better stadiums for track and field given that many of their track stadiums also house soccer teams.  You cannot have a track meet in a 65,000 seat football stadium which we are so fond of in this country, but the small stadiums in Europe are perfect for hosting track meets.  We cannot either host meets in this country at small college tracks with basic metal bleachers.  That does not look professional; it looks amateurish.  The MLS has taken off with numerous soccer-only facilities.  These types of stadiums would be perfect for hosting track meets if a track could be squeezed in.

3.  Increase the emphasis on winning.  The "A" and "B" standards have got to go.  They turn most meets and races into boring rabbitted affairs.  Who could possibly forget the Oxy High Performance Meet or the Peyton Jordan Inivte?  These races are great to serious track nuts like myself who will sit in front of their lap top to watch a live stream, but they hardly register on the national scale.

It is difficult to run 13:00 for 5k without someone sacrificing themselves to make the pace fast and still try and race well.  Look what happens in championship races - no one knows how to race once the rabbits are gone leaving us with what are essentially one lap races.  We have become so focused on fast times that winning sometimes becomes secondary.  Would training suffer if athletes were forced to race more often?  Probably, but there is something to racing yourself into shape, and if the emphasis is on winning, then time won't matter so much anyway.

Instead of standards to hit, points could be accrued towards world championships and Olympics.  I love the idea of giving an automatic "A" in the 10k to the top 15 guys at World Cross.  It makes guys want to run it.  Runners could earn points by finishing in the top 5 or 10 in meets with quality fields.  I am not certain what determines a quality field - for example, a 5k race in which the mean PR of the runners assembled is below 13:15 could qualify as a quality field.  Runners in this race could then earn points towards qualifying.  This would allow runners to race to win, not hit a time.

4.  Be more open to talking about your training.  You're not guarding the secret formula to Coca-Cola.  You are doing workouts and running 70-130 miles a week.  See, I follow the sport extremely closely, and yet I still have hardly any idea exactly what it is you are doing.  If just a handful of professional athletes would openly share their training like Donn Cabral does, everyone would benefit from it.  I know I would benefit from being able to read the training logs of marathoners like Ritz and Teg.  High schoolers and their coaches who want to understand what they should be doing could learn and get better and the average person could see just how hard you are working and grow in respect of the sport.  They would see just how exceptional professional athletes are and have slightly more respect for a 2:10 marathoner.

Your racing results will not suffer, and if someone beats you it will not be because your training is posted somewhere online.  It will just be because they are better than you.

5.  Show some personality.  This one is directed at you Galen Rupp.  You know what I'm talking about.  You have interests outside of sitting in your altitude tent playing Fifa.  Or actually, maybe you don't.  But I'm sure there are plenty of other runners who do but we just don't know it.  Don't be a monk, post some goofy pictures of your Settlers of Cataan board a la the Schumacher group or make some ridiculous bets like shaving an eyebrow like Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson did.  If you get around to reading this Andrew Wheating, please bring back your Behind the Stands videos.  Guys like Torrence and Nick Symmonds have this nailed.

6.  Start a league.  Track and field needs a real, centralized league.  Track and field is a team sport at every single level of the sport except the professional.  We grow up competing on a track team starting in elementary school, through high school and college - why does it have to stop there?  The Diamond League is an after thought.  It doesn't even have a sponsor anymore.  Guys go all over Europe and run fast times at random meets that are not part of any bigger league.  It's awesome to run 3:33 or 13:10, but it is almost impossible to keep track of when the races will be run and where your favorite athletes will show up to compete.  The PGA Tour could be a great model.  It ties far flung tournaments all over the country into a circuit.

Starting a real league could go hand in hand with number two on this list.  A domestic American track and field league would be awesome.  Instead of guys running for Nike, they could run for New York, Boston, or Portland.  Let the runners put their names on their jerseys and sell them.  We would no longer have to watch a few indistinguishable guys in light blue Nike or red adidas kits lope around the track.   Team Schumacher vs the Nike Oregon Project could finally really throw down and use real team tactics against each other in a race.  How awesome would that be?

This doesn't just have to be an Americans only league either.  We have Dominicans and Europeans filling our baseball and basketball leagues.  Bring in athletes from all over the world to fill out the teams.  A league like this would be an incredible stride for track and field.  As it exists now, track and field is relevant to the majority of the world every four years when the Olympics roll around.  I love the Olympics as much as anyone, but they hinder the sport immensely.  Imagine playing the Super Bowl every four years.

Having a real league with teams would also help athletes take their fate out of the hands of the shoe companies and the national governing bodies who wield all the power.  There could be a union of sorts to protect the runners.  If you get a contract from a team with a general manager and a president instead of a company with a CEO there will be significant benefits in terms of stability and financial backing.

Seriously, if the WNBA can still exist, a track and field league can exist.

7.  Be Creative.  This is really the final point I can add.  There are so many things you can do to make people running in circle around a field more interesting.  The Olympic Trials in Eugene was an incredible experience and I never once felt bored in the stadium.  Fans were into the races, the festival atmosphere was great, athletes were accessible.  This could be replicated easily at other meets.  Why not have novelty races every once in a while in a non Olympic year or have a road race finish on the track as part of the meet and broadcast it on the screen in the stadium?  I saw a great race on Flotrack in which runners raced a 5k, but whoever was in last place at the end of each lap was pulled off the track.  Imagine what an epic race that would turn into if you got the country's 12 best 5k runners in a race like that.  Use all that body tracking technology that is being developed.  Monitor heart rates during races and put it on the big board.  It would be awesome to watch that as sprinters are held in the blocks or a chase pack gains on a lead runner who went out too fast.  The sky is literally the limit when it comes to ways to make professional track and field meets fun for even the casual fan.

Who knows - maybe track and field will always be a niche sport in this country.  We are after all the land of the super size Coke and the Dallas Cowboys.  Those of us who care about the sport cannot let that stop us from trying to think of any possible idea to grow the sport.  Track and field is a wonderful sport and it has done so much for me in my life.  I hope somehow I can return the favor.

What's Wrong With Track and Field (Part 2)

This post has been a long time coming, but I am glad I waited until now to start writing it since there have been conversations started by the decision of Competitor Group to cut its funding of elite athletes.  I wrote earlier this summer that the numerous doping scandals and cloud of suspicion hanging over our sport was one of the big problems hindering the sport's continued development, but it is far from the biggest.  The biggest problem for track and field is that the sport simply would not exist without shoe companies.  Shoe companies hold all the power in the sport, forcing athletes to essentially work as independent contractors.

Shoe companies keep the sport alive, plain and simple.  Not to say that cannot be changed, but in its current state, track and field would die if Nike decided it really didn't need its track and field athletes to sell shoes anymore.  Competitor Group decided it does not get enough return on its investment in elites, what is stopping the shoe companies from doing the same?  Does anyone really think that Nike saw a giant uptick in sales of spikes last year because Galen Rupp won a 10k silver medal in London?  Probably not.

I believe there is some benefit for Nike to associate itself with elite athletes.  After all, the only spikes I have ever bought have been Nike.  I'm no psychologist, so I could not really tell you whether I do that because I think they provide the best product or because I associate them with elite athletes.  A marketing guru somewhere in Oregon knows the answer to that question.

To avoid sounding too dire, I do not believe Nike or any of the shoe companies are on the verge of cutting funding to elite athletes.  Deep down I do believe there is some value for Nike being able to have its athletes all decked out in their Nike kits consistently smoking the adidas or Brooks athletes.  I believe we actually would see a surge towards a different company if its athletes were the most consistently dominant.  The problem, however, is that Nike consistently snaps up the best of the best America has to offer, and the power of their brand allows them to get whoever they want and pay them whatever they want.

We saw this all year with the sad case of Leo Manzano.  Leo is the defending Olympic silver medalist.  He is one of the most clutch racers this country has ever seen.  His PR's are not really all that impressive, and he often tanks in the rabbited Diamond League races.  But, when it's time to show up at a national championship or a world competition he always performs.  He has not missed a US team since 2007 (for those who don't realize what that means, Leo has represented the US at the 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013 World Championships and the 2008 and 2012 Olympics).  At a time when US men's mile running has seen the most depth and talent ever, one runner has risen above all the rest to make the team, and that runner is Leo Manzano.

That runner is also unsponsored, essentially unemployed.

This to me, should have been the ultimate wake up call for track and field.  Our country's first medalist in the men's 1500 since 1966 cannot find a job.  While I realize I was not privy to the negotiations between Leo and Nike, it still boggles my mind that a contract could not be worked out. 

This situation would never happen in any of our American ball sports.  Could you imagine an MVP caliber baseball player having to worry about not having a job at the end of the season?  Leo Manzano is an MVP caliber American runner, but he has no contract and therefore, no job.  Our ball sports have leagues and players unions and we have shoe companies.  Runners for Nike are essentially no different from any other employee for the global brand.  There is no union looking out for track and field athletes the way that MLB's players union looks out for its players and make sure they are getting a fair share of the league's revenue.  Anyone know where all of that billion dollar Olympic broadcast contract is going?  It's definitely not going to the athletes.

You would think the national governing body of track and field in the US, USATF would be able to have some impact in this situation, but they do not because they are in bed with Nike.  Nike makes a lot of money for the USATF.  Nike makes all of the officially licensed Team USA and USATF gear and buys much of the advertising at major US meets, making USATF beholden to the shoe company.

The sport needs a new business model where runners are under a legitimate contract with a team rather than a business.  I could go online right now and tell you exactly how much money each of the players in the NFL game I am currently watching makes per season.  Track and field?  Yeah right. 

That lack of transparency keeps the power in the hands of the shoe companies, not the athletes.  Without any knowledge of how much professional runners make, how can the public have any voice in determining whether athletes are underpaid and undersupported?  Without a shift away from the current shoe company driven state of the sport, track and field athletes will not see any improvement in their pay or the condition of the sport.

What's Wrong with Track and Field (Part I)

Last week, the world of professional track and field was rocked by another doping scandal, as Tyson Gay, the fastest American sprinter ever at 100 meters and three time gold medalist at the 2007 world championships, and Asafa Powell of Jamaica, former world record holder at 100 meters and also owner of 88 sub-10 second finishes in the 100 meters.  The positive tests, Powell's for a stimulant and Gay's of a still unknown substance, set of a hale storm of of media vitriol deriding track and field as a sideshow sport with false times and world records fueled by performance enhancing drugs.  Nearly every sports talk radio show I listened to last week at one point accused Usain Bolt, by far the greatest talent that track and field has ever seen, of being a cheater.

It is a sad state of affairs for track and field, leaving even the truest of fans, including myself, questioning the direction of the sport.  How long until the sport is controlled by a team of doctors, testing concoctions on their guinea pig athletes?  Of the 12 fastest men in US history at 100 meters, 7 have been linked to some type of doping scandal.  One of our nation's top female sprinters, Carmelita Jeter nicknamed Pharmalita Jeter by many, continues to associate herself with people tied to doping.  Marion Jones, the Olympic darling of the 2000 Sydney games, was embroiled in the BALCO scandal and was ultimately stripped of her five Olympic medals.  No one wanted to believe Jones could possibly be cheating as she was trumped up as a role model for young girls everywhere, but we should have seen it coming, as she was accused of doping in high school!

The one athlete drawing the most scrutiny, and the one I most believe to be competing clean, is Usain Bolt.  Those accusing Bolt of doping, specifically the sports talk hosts who have never watched a professional track race in their life, do not understand just how special an athlete he is.  As a skin and bones 17 year old, he ran 20.13 for 200 meters.

Bolt is simply a once in a lifetime athlete.  A 6'-5" sprinter dominating a world of 5'-11" to 6-1" sprinters.  Most sprinters at the world class level are short, compact balls of muscle.  Being small and compact makes it easier to come away from the blocks well, and this is the one thing that has always held Bolt back.  It just takes him longer to get up to top speed, but when he does, his stride is one of the most impressive things I have ever seen.  His utter domination of the 100 meter final at the 2008 Olympics remains one of the most indelible sporting images of my life, and I am praying it is never tainted by a doping scandal.

As a distance runner, I would be mistaken if I only addressed the doping problem in the sprinting world.  Distance running also has its fair share of doping problems to address, perhaps more so than sprinting.  Sprinting success is largely inherent to the talents you were born with and technique, but in distance running, success is governed by continued accumulation of mileage and workouts, all geared towards equipping your body with the ability to function aerobically while in an extreme state of physical distress.  This can all be accomplished through years and years of hard work, or the process can be speeded up through the use of a nifty little substance called EPO, which is a naturally occuring hormone in the body.  Just by looking, you could never detect the use of EPO in a runner on the surface.  You do not grow gills while on it and your muscles do not pop out of your skin.  Your body just produces more red blood cells and more red blood cells equals more oxygen to the muscles.  Just ask Lance Armstrong - EPO works wonders for an endurance athlete.

I believe, more so than any other sport, track and field is a science.  It is unlike football, baseball, or basketball in that way.  Pitchers have been throwing the ball at about the same velocity for years.  We are not on the verge of seeing a pitcher throw the ball 110 mph.  We will never see a quarterback capable of lofting 100 yard spirals or a basketball player discovering a jump shot that never misses.  All of those skills are governed largely by your natural talent.  Humans are not born with the ability to run 9.8 seconds in the 100 meters or 12:50 in the 5k.  Those marks require specific training, and we are still learning what type of training leads to those performances.  This is why records gradually fall in distance races.  We have come a long way since the days of Emil Zatopek training for his races by running 100 meter sprints in combat boots!

This is also why I believe track and field will always have problems with doping.  Athletes always want an edge.  This is true in every sport.  In baseball pitchers doctor the baseball with illegal substances.  Linemen in football are always looking for creative ways to hold without getting caught.  That is the nature of competition.

Steroids and other performance enhancing drugs have been used for years in all other sports as well, most notably in baseball.  But these are team sports, and one player juicing up does not guarantee success.  Barry Bonds never won a World Series and neither did Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa during the height of their steroid use.  Did they make millions more than they would have otherwise?  The answer to that is a resounding yes, but they did not drastically affect the outcome of the entire season.  In an individual sport like track and field, one doped athlete can alter the entire landscape of an Olympic Games, a la Marion Jones or Ben Johnson.

I cannot quite explain the outrage over the use of performance enhancing drugs in endurance sports like track or cycling.  There was hardly outrage over the use of drugs in baseball in the late nineties, and even today, a positive drug test by a baseball player sparks a day of fire and brimstone rhetoric by the talking heads on ESPN before the player goes onto his next multimillion dollar contract (Melky Cabrera anyone?).  No one questions the rapidly growing size and speed of NFL linebackers.  If you think all of those 6'-5" 260 pounders with 5% body fat are not using something than I've got some nice real estate on the moon you might like to purchase.  Why then, should it be seen as indicative that the sport of track and field is dying or failing when a couple of sprinters test positive?

I believe what is at the core of such beliefs is the fact that track and field is such an organic sport.  It is one of the oldest and most primal sports in the world.  It is two men lining up to see who is fastest, who can jump the farthest, or who can throw the farthest.  We have all engaged in these activities ourselves.  Racing one another is one of the best ways that children assert their dominance.  Everyone wants to see where they stack up against each other physically.  When we watch track and field, we want to believe that we are watching the best in the world push their bodies to the brink against each other.  Naturally and without the aid of any drugs that we ourselves could not take.  Track and field record books are not just an homage to those whose names grace the pages, they are an homage to what the human body is capable of when pushed to its utter limits.  When records are falsely held by dopers the entire human race has been cheated.  Without strict enforcement of doping rules our record books will not be a true measuring stick of what our species is capable of.

Sadly, I believe track and field will always have a doping problem.  Doping has been an issue in the sport since the East German and Russian she-men dominated the sport in the seventies and eighties.  Doctors and scientists will always have a hand in who wins the Olympic gold.  Again, if you think Mo Farah became a transcendent distance runner at the age of 30 after stagnating for years we can talk about that lunar property I mentioned before.  The rewards are simply too great for those who choose to take drugs, and the risks not great enough.  Most runners make little to nothing competing in the sport.  One good season, fueled by drugs, could provide enough winnings to live off for the rest of a young Kenyan's life.  Get busted, and you just head back to your home country to sit out your ban, making just about as much money as you would have anyway.

My enjoyment of the sport comes largely from watching the athletes fight and claw their way to the finish.  I want to see fast times just as much as the next person, but I would rather watch a race in which 10 men battle the entire length of the bell lap than a sub 12:30 5k in which the winner is doped to the gills.  That is not what the sport is all about, but I fear that without the strictest enforcement of drug testing rules, that is what it will devolve into.  I long for a day when world records can be set and fast times run without red flags being raised.  Or the day when a previously unheralded athlete can emerge from obscurity to win a gold medal without scrutiny.  I hate the fact that even as a die hard fan of the sport, I still take world leading performances with a grain of salt.  I want to believe that someone like Farah could drastically improve from second rate to world beater through hard work alone or that an unknown like last years 1500 Olympic champ Taoufik Makhloufi could shock the world.  Things like that inspire me to pursue my own personal greatness.  Instead Makhloufi's victory came with a widespread helping of disbelief.  Sadly, he has not been heard from this year, and I fear what many believed about him was true.

I will continue watching track and field no matter how many positive drug tests there are.  It is the sport I love the most, despite its warts.  What I fear, is that I will be among the few, lost in a sea of doubters and disinterested.  Those who love the sport most must fight to keep it clean, be they athletes, fans, or drug testers.