5 Questions with Alice Schmidt

The finish of the Women's 800 Final this year was a close one!
(photo: TrackAndFieldPhoto)

We start the week off with the second installment of 5 Questions with a member of the 2012 London Olympic Team. I take personal delight here, because she's a Tar Heel!

Alice Schmidt has been on the scene for over ten years now. Her first runs at the big time were her two runner-up finishes at the 2001 NCAA indoor and outdoor 800's, while at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since then, she's made multiple World teams and now is a 2-time Olympian. She's always been stronger at the 800 meters, but ran a PR and the Olympic A Standard in winning this year' Prefontaine Classic 1500 meters. She'll run a few races before lining up for the Olympic 800 prelims on August 8th.

5 Questions with Alice Schmidt

1. Writing About Running: The 800 Final at the trials saw five women within 0.64 seconds. What was it like weaving through the traffic in the final meters to make the all import top three, guaranteeing yourself a spot on the team?

Alice Schmidt: The women's 800 was a nail-biter. We all knew that it was going to be a serious fight to make the team this year because the caliber of the field was so high. I've always said that in the 800, nobody in the final can be counted out because it's such a strategic sprint and anything can happen. So, in the final, I wanted to go out behind Alysia and relax in that position. I was hoping to make a big surge at the end for the win, but I found myself stuck on the rail for much of the final kick. At the end of a race, people usually run wide, so I was able to squeeze out to have a clear line to the finish, and I was able to surge into 3rd place. Whew!

2. Writing About Running: With that, congrats making your second Olympic team. What was the feeling this year in relation to how it was in 2008?

Alice Schmidt: This year's 800 meter final had depth that I haven't seen in my career. Almost everyone in the final had the Olympic A standard; I think 4 of us had the standard in 2008. Obviously nothing was guaranteed. This year, I have been running a few more 1500s and doing more strength work. I was able to do speed work only in the last month or so. I kept having to tell myself that the "pieces of the puzzle" would come together at the trials, and thankfully, they did. Making the Olympic team for a second time was double-thrilling, seriously.

Schmidt on her way to winning the 2012 Pre Classic
 1500 over Jenny Simpson & Shannon Rowbury
(photo: TrackAndFieldPhoto)

3. Writing About Running: At the Prefontaine Classic this year, you upset 2/3 of the 2012 Olympic 1500 meter team, running a PR and Olympic A Standard time of 4:05.64. You have had a lot of success in the 800. Do you see a future in the longer event?

Alice Schmidt: My 1500 at Pre was a result of more strength work last year and this year. I've always raced the 1500 a few times a year, but last summer I raced the distance and won a couple of times in Europe. Still, I didn't have the A Standard. So, at Pre, I knew I wanted to get out of traffic, again, and I just went for it. I'm definitely looking forward to racing the "metric mile" more frequently!

4. Writing About Running: While at the University of North Carolina, you ran with two other future Olympians in Shalane Flanagan and Erin Donohue. How did your time at UNC and your relationship with these women shape you as a runner?

UNC's team of Schmidt, Donohue, Carol
Henry and Flanagan ran 17:20.18 to win
the 4x1500 at the 2003 Penn Relays.

Alice Schmidt: Shalane, Erin and my other teammates at UNC were critical in setting me up for success in college and as a professional. Having teammates who made it to NCAAs and got on the podium regularly set the bar pretty high. Successful athletics was the status quo. After college, I knew I wanted to find a similar atmosphere. As a resident athlete at the Olympic Training Center, I've got the same thing. My teammates there are not my training partners, but their hard work and success have inspired me to make teams and set my sights high.

5. Writing About Running: You have about a month until Round 1 of the 800 in London. What will you do to prepare over these last few weeks and how do you see your Olympic experience being different this time as a veteran of Team USA? Is there any European racing on your schedule in advance of the games?

Alice Schmidt: I'm already in Europe! I left the USA a few days after the trials. I knew I would need to take a bit of downtime after my 6 races at the trials, so I figured I would "kill 2 birds with 1 stone" and get over jet-lag while resting my legs. I've got about a week of working out before I start racing here. I hope to get into 3 races or so, and I plan to stay in Europe until the Olympics. I've learned from previous years that I'm at my best after a few races in Europe, so I'm trying to put myself in the best position for the Olympics.

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5 Questions with Brie Felnagle

Brie leads Jen Rhines at Stanford
(photo: TrackAndFieldPhoto)

Today we have 5 Questions with a fellow Tar Heel alumni who exemplifies the versatility that Chapel Hill breeds; she's been on the cover of Runner's World and is a pro at Words With Friends. After an excellent showing at the Stanford Invitational last week, she'll run a full schedule this spring in preparation for the Olympic Trials in June.

Brie Felnagle has been part of the national scene for almost ten years now, from finishing second at Nike Team Nationals and sixth at Foot Locker in high school to winning a national championship in the 1500 and finishing fourth in Cross Country at the University of North Carolina. She had a strong first season as a professional, running for Adidas, last year, finishing seventh in the 1500 at USATF Nationals and then winning Club Cross in the fall. She just missed the 5000 A Standard by 2.39 seconds in a strong season opener at Stanford and looks to be on track for her best season yet. Follow Brie on Twitter here.

5 Questions with Brie Felnagle

1. Writing About Running: Congrats on the big PR at Stanford. You slowly worked your way through the pack and finished strong. Was that the strategy all along?

Brie Felnagle: Thank you. I did not know exactly where my fitness was. I had not raced since December and was fighting injury for most of February. I had been at altitude for the month prior to Stanford and because workout times are adjusted up there, I just didn't know what to expect. So I went out conservatively and moved as I felt better throughout the race.

Brie in her Tar Heel days

2. Writing About Running: The transition back to the west coast seems to be going well. What have been the biggest changes in "heading home?"

Brie Felnagle: The biggest change in heading home is not having school! There is so much time in the day. It took me awhile to get the hang of making good use of that time and setting a schedule for myself. I have gotten much better at that this year and I think it has helped.

3. Writing About Running: You had a nice win at Club Cross this Fall. How did that fit into your training?

Brie Felnagle: Club cross was a lot of fun because it was a local meet. Several of my training partners got to run with me, which made it feel like a team experience. I have missed cross country a lot since college, especially the team part. It was also great strength training for track season later in the spring.

Felnagle's "fans"

4. Writing About Running: I saw fellow Tar Heel, Addie Bracy, recently and she told me about yalls training trip to Mexico. How did that come about and who all was involved?

Brie Felnagle: Mexico was where we were altitude training before Stanford. It is in San Luis Potosi, which has an amazing training facility that includes housing and food. There were four of us: Addie, myself, Jake Schmitt from University of Washington, and Kim Conley from UC Davis. The weather was amazing (especially since it was the worst March on record in Washington) and we got a lot out of the trip. Mental toughness included.

5. Writing About Running: What else do you have on the schedule this spring? Have you decided between the 1500 and the 5000 at the trials?

Brie Felnagle: I will run both the 1500 and 5k this spring. I'll be running at the Mt. Sac Relays, Payton Jordan Cardinal Invite, Oxy and potentially Adidas. I am not sure which I will go for at the trials, but I'm excited to run both!

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Thanks to our sponsor, 14 Minutes, the Alberto Salazar autobiography, for sponsoring the blog this week. I'll be reviewing it very soon! If you're interested in sponsoring writing about running (and other great sites like TrackFocus, Track Superfan, Paul Merca and the House of Run podcast) in the future, check out The Relay Network.

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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