Runnerville

Hint: His last name rhymes with mine.

My friend told me he was in a bar the other night and saw a segment previewing the Usain Bolt-versus-Asafa Powell 100-meter race on ESPN’s pontificating talk show, “Pardon the Interruption” (PTI if you’re “with it”).  Can anyone remember a time when any non-Olympic running event was featured on such a show?  I certainly can’t.

This makes me wonder if Usain Bolt just might be the torch-courier for the sport of track and field in not only America, but the world.  Bolt’s record-setting Olympic trifecta has effectively announced his arrival on the scene, not only as one fast man, but a marketable personality and surprisingly good dancer. During the Olympics, people tuned in faithfully to every one of Bolt’s races, eager to see just how badly he’d beat the competition and how much he’d celebrate afterwards.  Michael Johnson was the last track and field athlete to elicit such a fever.

Now, this once-unknown youngster from a Carribbean island of under 3 million people is arguably the most exciting athlete in the world, having already ignited his track-happy nation and now exciting the world.

So, I went to bed Sunday night after the Closing Ceremonies, and just woke up.

Seriously, those late nights were killing my productivity during the day. But as expected, it was all worth it. The action was great, the track and field coverage was decent, and there were some simply amazing moments.

Now that the Games are over, take a few minutes to weigh in on these questions:

How did the Beijing Games stack up against past venues?

How did NBC do with its “no politics” rule?

How was the track and field coverage? Did it do much (or anything) to move our sport forward in the ways we’ve discussed on this blog?

What was your biggest thrill of the Games? Biggest let-down?

Let the opining begin!

Well, we’re one day away.  “Four years from now” is almost here, and I’m giddy.

If all goes as planned, my wife and I will be attending an Opening Ceremonies viewing party tomorrow night.  We didn’t plan it; some friends of ours did.  What a great idea to generate some excitement around the Games.  It’s probably not too late to send out some last-minute e-vites® to folks in your area, cook up some finger foods, stock the fridge with beverages, and watch the opening festivities in style.  Who wants to view the triumph of the human spirit alone, anyway?  That’s just depressing…

I just heard that Lopez Lomong (who has a pretty cool Web site … is this the new trend?), the former Sudanese “Lost Boy”-turned-1,500-meter Olympian, will carry the American flag.  Now that’s something I can’t wait to see.

And if tomorrow night is too soon to throw a shindig together, then plan something for another evening or two during the Olympics.  Maybe broadening the reach of our sport (and the Olympic spirit in general) is as much a grassroots movement as it is organizational policy.

I want to point out CNN.com’s page dedicated to the 2008 Olympic Games. (check it out here)  The coverage is not exhaustive and the content limited, but a highlight for me is featured blogger and personal friend Gilbert Tuhabonye.  Gilbert is one of several athletes and CNN correspondents writing posts leading up to and even during the Games, and he couldn’t be a better choice.

Link directly to Gilbert’s posts by clicking here.

As you’ll read, Gilbert’s story is nothing short of miraculous.  He should be dead right now, not winning 10Ks, running 2:20 marathons, or coaching Austin-area runners.  See, Gilbert is from Burundi, where a violent civil war broke out in the early ’90s pitting two ethnic groups — the Hutus and the Tutsis — against each other.  A violent Hutu mob approached Gilbert’s school on October 21, 1993, surrounded it, and allowed the Hutus inside — many of them Gilbert’s close friends — to come outside.

With only Tutsis remaining inside the school, the mob chained the doors and set the school on fire.  The fire burned for hours before Gilbert, badly burned himself but alive, escaped through a window and ran away from the Hutu mob with his back on fire.  The 18-year-old doused the fire in a small pool of water before dragging himself to safety.

The subsequent story is quite long, but Gilbert would go on to attend Abilene Christian University in Texas (my alma mater) on a track and field scholarship, where he was a six-time all-American and a member of seven Division II team track titles.  Post-college, Gilbert moved to Austin, where, working for Paul Corroza’s successful RunTex store, he began winning local races and motivating thousands.  He even began coaching a group of area wannabe adult and child runners — called “Gilbert’s Gazelles” — motivating them with his knowledge of the sport and inspirational story.  He also trains and dreams of representing his home country, Burundi, in a future Olympiad.

(you can read Gilbert’s harrowing story in its entirety here)

Why does this matter?  Because stories like Gilbert’s are what may connect our sport to the masses.  It is inspirational.  It touches all who hear it.  It gives hope.  It represents humanity at its best — and worst.

I think of Lopez Lomong, the former Sudanese “Lost Boy”-turned-Olympian who will represent the U.S. in the 1,500-meter run.  There are probably others who have overcome great odds to make the Olympic team.  I would assert that stories like Lopez’s (and hopefully Gilbert’s in a future Games) may be just as important in the marketing run-up to the Olympics as the promise of blistering times from Jeremy Wariner.

What do you think?

What a weekend!  A few reflections from the greatest marathon in the world from a hometown boy:

• First off, great job by Matt & the PUMA gang on the PUMA / LetsRun.com Boston Marathon pre-race party Saturday night. The store was jam-packed, the Harpoon suds were flowing, a dance move or two were busted, and many a conversation were had. I walked by the NikeTown store on Newbury St. after leaving the PUMA party and it was eerily dark and quiet — in other words, closed. If Nike’s smart, they’ll throw a pre-marathon blowout next year in their store. These things are good for the sport, if you know what I mean.
• Ryan Hall was signing posters at the race expo on Saturday.  Nice of him to come down from the mountains and enjoy the most beautiful Boston weekend thus far in 2008.  Adoring fans formed a line around the Expo to meet Ryan, say a word or two, take a picture with him, and get an autograph.  Nice to see a nice guy and great runner getting the attention he deserves from fans of the sport.
• I picked up the re-designed Running Times Magazine at their expo booth on Sunday.  It was my first time seeing it in a few months, and I have to say this: quite simply, RT is the best publication available for fans of the sport.  I subscribed several years ago, way back when RT was like a souped-down version of RW with less impressive design and basically one page dedicated to races and athletes.  I’ve always liked RT better than RW, but today, the magazine is the perfect blend of training tips, race reports, and athlete bios to feed my need for running sustenance.  And with the exception of microscopic typefaces on a few articles, the whole package flat out looks great.  Kudos to Editor Jonathan Beverly and his staff for the new — and much improved — Running Times. (and big ups to our own Matt Taylor for a quality cover feature on Tegenkamp in the most recent issue)
• As I stood among the “commoners” on the race course Monday (just before Kenmore Sq, if anyone’s curious), I was struck again with the question that many have posed on this blog and podcast: “How are is the sport of running neglecting all these people?” Sure, people come out to experience the pomp and pageantry of the world’s greatest marathon, and to watch their friends and family members sweat it out. But do they know about the elite runners? My conversations Monday say they don’t. It seems the task ahead for the powers that be remains making fans out of the nominally interested participants and observers found along race routes and in races all over this country.
• Was Monday’s women’s finish the best in history?  Conservatively, it was definitely high on the list.  It was the type of back-and-forth, digging deep kind of competition that really energizes crowds and creates fans of the sport.  Two virtual unknowns separate convincingly from a pretty good field of runners, and then break into a sprint with a mile to go … amazing.  The Tune-Biktimirova finish is one for the record books.
• Monday’s race was the first time I’ve watched Boston in person, and thus it was the first time to witness the throngs of wasted college students along Commonwealth and Beacon Streets enjoying their day off.  Marathons and drinking: a curious combination, methinks.  One is the payoff for months of tireless and thankless hard work, and the glory lasts a lifetime.  The other is an act of instant gratification that is quite short-lived and has one or two quite negative side-effects.
• Folks went nuts when Lance and his entourage ran by on Monday.  If Lance Armstrong trained — like really trained — he’d be a 2:35 marathoner, easy.  As it is, he’s beating 95% of the field and hovering around 2:50 on what I’d call minimal marathon training.  (he said he ran about 5-6 miles a day with a few long runs thrown in while training for Boston)  He likely won’t ever train hard for a marathon, partly because he’s so dang busy pounding cancer and mostly because he simply doesn’t love marathoning enough to do so.  That’s fine.  Lance is what he is — an amazing cyclist-turned-amateur marathoner who is a mighty fine ambassador for the sport.

Standing in Fenway Park last night watching the Sox and Yanks duke it out reminded me that one of the reasons running pales as a sport in comparison to baseball is, quite simply, a lack of competition.  At least the kind of competition that creates headlines, brings out fans, and gets jerseys buried below the visiting team’s new stadium.  Not since the Johnson-Bailey “rivalry” — and let’s face it, few outside of track circles knew about that — has competition been able to spark a somewhat wider interest in the sport.  The problem with Johnson-Bailey, though, (IMHO) was that many — including myself — simply saw the circus as two huge egos seeing who can stick his chest out further.

Granted, the bulk of the Sox-Yanks rivalry is largely created by the New York and Boston media and the fans who eat it up, but who cares?  People pack out Fenway Park when the Evil Empire rolls into town, and pack out Yankee Stadium when the Sox visit New York.  I had to stand up the whole game because there wasn’t a seat to be had.  Just being inside the park, smelling the smells and hearing the cheers and jeers in person, watching big play after big play, was enough.  The allure of being near the action was romantic in itself.

Maybe it’s because runners are generally nice folks, respecting of each other and the work they put into their training.  The nature of track and field athletes certainly plays a part in the lack of competition that is marketed to the general public.  But the bulk of the blame, once again, falls on the governing bodies.

Let me get all MLK on you now — I have a dream that one day, thousands will pack stadiums to witness attempts at American and World records, historic match-ups, and back-and-forth rivalries.  If we believe that running is as interesting — if not more — than the mainstream sports, then athletes, governing bodies, and watchdog blogs must see that this happens.  I haven’t been to the mountaintop, but I can see it from here …

2008 is Yankee Stadium’s curtain call.

After 84 years of tireless service to the New York faithful, the “House that Ruth Built” will give way to a brand-spankin’-new stadium, set to begin its tenure in 2009. Most people don’t know that the old Yankee Stadium, as it will soon be called, was intended to be a multi-sport stadium. The field was initially surrounded by a quarter-mile running track, which effectively also served as a warning track for outfielders, a feature now standard on all major league fields. The left and right field bleacher sections were laid out at right angles to each other and to the third base stands, to be properly positioned for both track and field events and football.

That’s right, the men who built Yankee Stadium anticipated the venue playing host to rousing athletics exhibitions.

Why couldn’t it be this way again? I mean, who better than the City of New York to promote and carry out a huge outdoor invitational track and field meet in Yankee Stadium? You could get the who’s-who of the City that Never Sleeps to attend, big-name musical acts to perform during down times, “main event” head-to-head competitions between the world’s best in each event, and even the “Pros vs. Joes” exhibitions discussed so much on this site. Shoot, lots of folks would come just to sit inside the Stadium. They’ll definitely leave having had a good time, and who knows — maybe they leave a track fan forever.

This would never happen, of course. Steinbrenner and the Yankees organization are too single-focused to think outside of baseball. They’d have the logistical issues of playing host to a world-class track meet during baseball season (easily solved — do it during a road series). Plus, as we’ve all observed and fumed about, running just isn’t the automatic moneymaker or crowd-attracter it could be. And “potential” doesn’t sell real well at Yankee Stadium.

So I guess that’s why we’re all here … to begin the conversation about how running can re-emerge as a good fit for the big stadiums — like Yankee Stadium — again.

Many have written on the struggles — financial and otherwise — of breaking into professional track and field, but I find it especially eye-opening to hear of struggles (”barely getting by”) from the runner’s own mouth (or blog). Such is the case with Brianna Glenn in her most recent post on her blog, which she calls “My so-called FABULOUS Life.” Brianna tells the story of how she became an elite runner, including the financial struggles, the “forgetting how to run and jump,” and her strategy to get back into shape. Now, she’s seeking a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in either the LJ or 200m. (she has PBs of 21-11 and 22.91, respectively). Here’s hoping she fulfills her dream.

Brianna’s story is important for a number of reasons. One, because it dispels the myth that all elite track and field athletes immediately strike gold when they get a sponsor or begin competing professionally. Brianna was competing every weekend under an Adidas sponsorship and claims she “barely got by.” This is the former PAC-10 Athlete of the Year we’re talking about here!

Two, her story underscores the uniqueness of our sport. If you play basketball well, you’ll have scores of people helping you along the way, offering wise counsel on big decisions, giving tips for improvement. For many elite runners, the only ones watching out for them are themselves and a coach, maybe. Oh, and their mom and dad. This has been said before (on this blog, I think), but track is one of the only sports that doesn’t reward athletes financially based on the potential for success. In track, your paycheck is determinant on your placing well — preferably first — at big meets. And any sponsorships are determinant on, well … the same thing.

Being an elite runner might be the most difficult profession in sports. No knock against LeBron James, but he doesn’t have to schedule his own games, book his own travel, or convince Nike that he is definitely going to score 30 in order to keep his contract or get a paycheck. His celebrity was set in stone before he even graduated high school.

…on Nintendo.

And I’m not impressed.

Konami recently announced a reincarnation of its wildly famous track and field game from the original Nintendo system. The game — called  New International Track and Field* — will be released in North America this summer for the Nintendo DS system, and will feature 15 classic Nintendo characters competing in over 20 standard track events.

I have a couple questions:

1. Will there be a Power Pad?  C’mon … the Pad was Wii 20 years before its time — a workout and entertainment all rolled into one. Nintendo Track & Field without the Power Pad is like Bonnie without Clyde … Bush without Cheney … Bershawn Jackson without headband…

2. Why not use actual track & field athletes? As much as I want to see Frogger break a world record in the javelin throw…  Why weren’t the IAAF or USATF banging down Konami’s door to get its athletes plastered all over this new game?  What if millions of kids could pick up a game with Powell or Wariner’s mugs on the cover in the same way they can with Manning or Wade?  Imagine what that would do for face recognition and new fan creation within the sport of track & field.  Seems like no-brainer marketing to me.

I’m not a video game nut, and I’m sorry, but New International Track & Field for Nintendo DS is certainly not going to make me a convert.

*is this name the best Konami could do?

I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way…– Whitney Houston, Greatest Love of All

I work part-time at a youth center in my neighborhood. Today, I noticed one of our teens — Fabian, a Hollister-wearing, soccer-loving, girl-chasing teenage boy — looking up Olympics information on the Web. I asked him what he was up to, and he said his teacher had given him an assignment of some kind to gather and report information about various Olympic track & field events, from sprints to middle distance to the marathon. Athletes to watch, records, past results, etc. He didn’t remember all the details of the assignment because he’d forgotten his paper at school, but nevertheless –

I was beaming!

I want to kiss the teacher who gave her students this assignment. The Angel of Track, maybe? I pointed him away from the dead-end site he was looking at and told him to peruse the USATF site for information on the athletes, records, etc. I told him how excited I was that he was doing this project, because track is pretty much the greatest sport in the world. He asked me if I’d help him with his project when he brought his paper back tomorrow, and I answered way too quickly and eagerly. I was like a kid in a candy store.

A few minutes later, I looked over and Fabian was looking up track races on YouTube. I told him to punch in “Michael Johnson” and “1996″, and he was amazed that a human being could run under 10 seconds for the second 100 meters of a 200-meter race. He was hooked.

Whitney might have been right all along. Could it really be that easy?