Runnerville

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.

 There is more than a bit of wistfulness in the smoke-tinged air here in Eugene, Oregon for these 2008 Olympic Trials.  Last night after Tyson Gay’s best-ever men’s 100-meters  - forget the wind or the geo-magnetic Allen Belt, ain’t nobody ever ran faster anywhere, anytime  - one of a myriad of reunions took place up in the hills outside Eugene at the home of Steve Dinatale.  Read more…

I don’t normally read ESPN Magazine, in fact I detest ESPN for only covering the drug aspect of our sport, but I found myself reading it as I waited at the local Jiffy Lube for my car to get an oil change. On the cover was the face of Kimbo Slice, the newest MMA star. The article went into depth on Slice’s life and how he’s become such a big star in the sport despite accomplishing so little.

While the article was entertaining, it also got me thinking that one of the reasons MMA has become so big is because UFC and the other organizations in the sport have done a phenomenal job at putting a face on their sport.

In the article the author stated, “Truth is, a star and some buzz are good for any sport; MMA should welcome Kimbo’s charisma, personality and ability to attract the uninitiated.” What Kimbo seems to be doing is a smaller version of what Lance Armstrong did for cycling and what Tiger Woods has done for golf. Those sports found their one poster boy, the one guy who could take their sport to the next level in terms of popularity and marketed that person to the extreme.

I truly believe every sport has a Lance Armstrong or Tiger Woods. That one person that has a story, shares their personality with the world a bit and comes out on top 9 times out of ten. But who are the athletes in our sport that have that charisma and personality, who win a bunch and can attract both old and new fans alike? I’d love to hear all of your thoughts on this.

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 …