Wesley Frazier and Edward Cheserek win New Balance Outdoor 2 Mile Titles

The New Balance Outdoor Nationals once again returned to the beautiful Irwin Belk Track at Aggie Stadium this weekend. Greensboro, North Carolina would once again host the best high schoolers from across the country. The featured distance events of the evening would be the Boys and Girls Championship 2 Mile Runs.

Leading the boys would be St. Benedict Prep's Edward Cheserek. Would he challenge German Fernandez' meet record of 8:34.40, which was set in 2008? Would he challenge Lukas Verzbicas' 8:29.46 set last year at Pre? Those were the questions stirring through the stadium as the 80+ degree day started to cool into the mid 70's at sunset approached.

The day got off to a rough start for the Newark, NJ Senior, as he lost control and dropped the baton during the Sprint Medley Relay. This is coming off a disappointing 12th places finish at the Adidas Grand Prix Dream Mile, where he "only" ran 4:07.29. How would he respond in quite possibly he last race of his season?

Of course, Cheserek isn't the only story. The 2 Mile would be the last high school race for Cary, NC standout, Thomas Graham, before heading out west in the Fall to join the powerhouse that is the Stanford Cardinal. Graham's career as one of the top distance runners in North Carolina history includes multiple state titles, two trips to Foot Locker Nationals, an 8:56.21 for 3200 meters at the storied Arcadia Invitational and most notably, a 14:11.23 for 5000 meters at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational. How would he fare against King Edward and the rest of an excellent field that spanned from coast to coast.

Last night, Winona Lake, Indiana's Ashley Erba ran a meet record of 16:18.21, distancing herself from last year's champ, Raleigh Ravenscroft's Wesley Frazier. Frazier has had another excellent year, most recently running an impressive 4:42.78 at the Adidas Grand Prix Dream Mile. She would have her hands full tonight with Wilmington, Delaware Tatnall's Haley Pierce coming in with the strongest run of the year at 10:16.35 for 3200 meters.

The girls would go off first at 8:10pm and Wesley Frazier would bide, a the field was tightly bunched the whole way and went through the mile in 5:07. Frazier came on strong over the last 100 meters to take the win in 10:13.43, outkicking Salt Lake City's Natalie Shields in the process. 

Edward Cheserek on the last lap

The guys would follow at 8:40pm. Edward Cheserek would play it cool and not take the lead until about 400 meters to go. When he went, Thomas Graham bided his time and got up on his shoulder with 200 meters to go. It wasn't until the last 100 meters that the speedier Cheserek would pull away and take the win in 8:55.12. Graham would PR in the process with a strong 8:56.56 for the 2 mile distance.

Although the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships would be going on this weekend as well and there would be an obvious divide of talent, the New Balance Outdoor Nationals is always an excellent event, and is a great place to see some emerging talent. I know I had a blast in 1995! Come back tomorrow for the mile and plenty more.

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Film Major: "Running America"

In one year from today, Greensboro, NC's Charlie Engle will be released from prison. Right before he was indicted, his film, "Running America," had just been released. Much of the promotion tour for "Running America" was cancelled, due to Engle's arrest, but Charlie isn't really the star of "Running America." That title goes to grand master (over 50) Marshall Ulrich.

Ulrich is a long time endurance runner from Colorado that faces obvious internal conflict as he attempts the 50+ cross country speed record. His story truly picks up in "Running America" when Charlie's ends. Charlie gets injured early into the film and can't continue the 3000+ mile jaunt across the country. Where Charlie's charisma is demanding of the audience's attention, Ulrich's struggle is equally, if not more, enthralling. Ulrich's wife succumbed to cancer at 28, and as his daughter Elaine states, he's been running from that ever since. Seeing Ulrich carry on day after day, averaging ~58 miles per day for 52 days is enough to make most of us feel pretty soft! Ulrich has also written a book about his nationwide trek, entitled "Running on Empty."

Engle and Ulrich take off on their journey

The scenery in "Running America" isn't quite that in "Running the Sahara." The film's B-story is the restlessness with the government and the economy surrounding the 2008 election. While many "locals" along the nationwide journey are interviewed about their disillusionment with the state of the nation, the running story still leads the way. Those interviewed seem most bothered towards the beginning of the journey/film and seem more hopeful by the time Ulrich is finishing up and Barack Obama is winning the 2008 election. It's filmmaking. It just seems a little odd as there are really two stories going on that don't really weave together.

That being said, "Running in America" is indeed entertaining, especially for those that have not seen "Running the Sahara," as there are many familiar scenes of blister popping and just watching grown men deal with the agonizing pain that comes with running an average of 2+ marathons per day! When Engle is on screen, he commands it. His passionate attitude and dealing with those with special needs is excellent. Hopefully he'll continue more of that when he's released a year from today. If you aren't already, follow Charlie's always entertaining twitter feed about life inside Beckley Prison and his introspective and also comedic blog, the aptly titled "Running in Place." Finally, check out Adam Higginbotham’s article, "Nowhere to Run," in the September 2011 issue of Men's Journal (click here for the article).

Pick up "Running America" on Amazon.com here.

Check out the "Running America" trailer here:



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Film Major: "Running the Sahara"

When I started running again in 2008, there was an article I distinctly remembered reading about a guy who had pretty similar high school running credentials to mine and then had gotten into some trouble while attending the University of North Carolina, ultimately getting back into running later in his 20’s with a great deal of success. This article was Jeff Pearlman's Runner’s World profile on Greensboro’s Charlie Engle. Now while my twenties weren’t nearly as wild as Charlie’s were, running was something that took a back seat to "socializing" and then came back into play around my 30th birthday. So when the opening scenes of the film showed Charlie running on Irwin Belk Track at Fetzer Field and in the Eddie Smith Field House, I was hooked.

All this being said, I found it shocking earlier this year when news surfaced that Charlie had been arrested for fraud as “IRS special agent Robert Nordlander began looking into Engle’s finances after reading a story about the ultramarathon across the desert and wondered how Engle could afford to pay for such an adventure.” This just goes to show, don’t try to cheat the IRS, “they read the newspaper.”

All this aside, “Running the Sahara” was an enjoyable documentary about Charlie, Ray Zahab, and Kevin Lin running over 4300 miles in 111 days across Africa, the equivalent of 170 marathons with no days off. Quite a feat to say the least! The cinematography was great as was the narration, which was done by Matt Damon, who also was an executive producer on the project. There were some expected testy moments as runners can get a little grumpy and running in sandstorms would likely make one extremely on edge. As you would expect, ultimately the three men and their crew soldiered through and they finished up at the Red Sea with a little daylight to spare (and with their friends and family looking on).

While admittedly I am a fan of the "bigger picture" Charlie Engle story and not just the movie, I can assure you “Running the Sahara” is worth a few hours of your time (and it is available on Netflix and on Showtime with regularity per the Track Superfan blog). Also, they started a charity, H2O Africa, that raises “awareness about the African water crisis, and facilitates cost-effective and impactful work that eradicates the problem in targeted regions of Africa.” They were able to secure a slot on the Jay Leno show to tell about their trek through Africa and to champion their noble cause.

And if you are interested in following Charlie’s case, he’ll be sentenced January 10th and has just written an excellent note over on his blog and tweets occasionally as well. Best of luck to him in a tough situation. It sounds like he is pretty remorseful of what happened and is doing his best to make the best out of a difficult situation.

Pick up "Running the Sahara" on Amazon.com here.

Pre-Sentencing Update: Quick update (1/9/11) from the Greensboro News & Record before sentencing tomorrow: Click here for the article

Sentencing Update: Charlie got 21 months today (1/10/11). Probably about as best as he could hope for. Here's the link to the story

Check out the trailer for "Running the Sahara" here:



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