Eugene Diary: Part 6, Final Thoughts

2011 Pre Classic Program

As I fly back to Raleigh via Chicago (via Portland), I can't help but think what a great weekend this was in Eugene. I can truly see now why it's called Track Town USA.

First off, I need to thank (Oregon grad) Kevin from the House of Run podcast for giving me all kinds of advice on Eugene; from where to run to where to eat to where to grab a beer. I dug into all of his suggestions and enjoyed them all (Track Town Pizza mostly).

Next, the Track Focus guys, Jim and Doug, were very hospitable and I had a blast talking track with them in the press box. If you're looking for a house in Eugene, Jim's got a great one for sale that's about 3/4 mile from Hayward Field.

Track Town Pizza, great 'za

Finally, I'd like to thank Jeff Oliver with the Prefontaine Classic for allowing me the chance to be part of the media. A top notch event all around. I'm not going to lie, I was a little bummed out after the meet ended on Saturday. I wasnt ready to say goodbye. Despite some shin troubles of late, I put the trainers and tempos on one more time and headed out for a good 10k fartlek on Pre's Trail before heading back to Portland.

As my car was parked on 22nd, I had to pass Hayward on my way back from Pre's Trail, where I decided to take a chance. I could see they were breaking down all of the equipment associated with putting on a Diamond League event and I also saw the gates open on the back side of the track. I jogged on in looking as nonchalant as a topless, white male in his (early) thirties can look and did a slow jog up to the 400 start in lane 5 before taking off! I ran the first curve relaxed with my head on a swivel before hitting the backstretch hard. I cruised the Bowerman curve before going into a full sprint over the final 100 to finish my stealth 400 at Hayward in 67.

3 of 4 headlines are Track!

As I jogged off, I got a bunch of big smiles; from the technical crew to a girl on the Oregon team that was getting ready to work out. They knew what I was up to!

I laughed and jogged the half mile down Agate back to my car, and at this point, I was pretty tired. I grabbed a Clif Bar and a Vitamin Water and proceeded to watch some locals play Ultimate Frisbee in the park while I stretched before making the trip back up the I-5 to Portland. What a trip, almost like a dream!

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Eugene Diary: Part 5, Prefontaine Classic

Sammy Wanjiru & Pre Tribute

The day was finally here, the Prefontaine Classic was upon us live at historic Hayward Field. The weather was great for the spectators; maybe a little warm for the athletes with a good dose of pollen in air. Nonetheless, the crowd was treated to great performances from start to finish.

I started the day off with a cup of Stumptown Coffee from Market of Choice and bumped into Mr. Track Town himself, Vin Lananna, in the parking lot. Said hello and headed over to Eugene resident and Track Focus co-founder Jim McDannald's house for some pancakes before heading over to Hayward with Doug Binder. Got a spot one level below last night and the day of Track & Field began.

My view from press row

The International Mile started off the track events for the day with Aussie Ryan Gregson outkicking David Torrence and Ben Blankenship for the win in 3:53.86. Next was the Men's steeplechase. The Americans had a tough time, finishing outside the Olympic A-Standard, but put on an excellent display regardless. The Men's 800 was kind of a let down as Abubaker Kaki got out to a big lead and ran away with it in 1:43.68 (Hayward Record), but Khadevis Robinson ran another strong race for a runner up finish. The women's 1500 was up next and Geleta Burka nudged Christin Wurth-Thomas out of the way with 150m to go and kicked hard for the win in 4:04.63 with Morgan Uceny finishing as the top American in 4:06.32.

The Men's 110m hurdles was certainly one of the top billed events as an epic rematch with David Oliver and Liu Xiang. Xiang got the better of Oliver in Shanghai, but Oliver ran better today, crushing the first few hurdles on the way to a 12.94 world leading time (with Xiang in 13.00). The Men's 400m was a little slow with Angelo Taylor upsetting Jeremy Wariner in 45.16 before another big event for the day, the Men's (and boy's) 2-Mile.

Lukas signing autographs

What was billed as an attack on the American Record (8:07.07) and the American High School Record (8:34), ended up being about half of that as the Men's race went out pretty slow after a quick first lap and the whole group, high schooler Lukas Verzbicas included, ran together for the first 2k or so. As the men's race began to heat up, Verzbicas kept a strong and steady pace himself (after going through the mile in 4:13). The men's pack stayed together through the last 200m when ageless Bernard Lagat showed his well-honed race tactics and kicked for the win in 8:13.62 with Verzbicas kicking home alone about 150m back in a new high school record of 8:29.46. Word is he's pretty confident he can go sub-4 next week at the Jim Ryan Dream Mile in New York.

Gatlin Trending

The Women's 100m athletes benefitted a 2.0 maximum allowed legal wind with Carmelita Jeter finishing  in a world lead of 10.7. Then the men had their turn with Steve Mullings ripping a world leading 9.80 with Michael Rodgers PR'ing in 9.85. A big Twitter-trending story was Justin Gatlin breaking 10 for the first time in 4 years with a 9.97.

Next up, the women's 800m was a tight bunch at the finish with Kenia Sinclair taking the win in 1:58 with 5 Americans at 2:00.xx or better, led by Alysia Montano (nee Johnson). Walter Dix kicked hard in the last 50 to take the 200 in 20.19 before Amantle Montsho surprised the field in the women's 400 in 50.59.

Lagat signing

The last event on the track was the Bowerman Mile, a tribute to past Oregon Coach Bill Bowerman (played by Lee Ermey and Donald Sutherland on film). This is always the highlight of the meet and today was no exception. Haron Keitany led 5 men under 3:50, winning in 3:49.09 with Russell Brown passing Olympic Silver Medalist Nick Willis in the final steps to finish in an American leading 3:51.45. Full results are here

All in all, an excellent day at the track. Perfect weather. Awesome crowd and lots of great races. Hope to make it back next year!

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Eugene Diary: Part 4, Distance Night in Eugene

Mosop was a blur all night

"Distance Night in Eugene" started off with a bang in what could have seemed like a snoozer of an event. The men were attempting world records at 25k (en route) and 30k (75 laps for those keeping score). What started as metronome like 70 second laps turned into the Moses Mosop show after about the first 15k. Mosop negative split all night and scored a US soil record for 20k (from Bill Rodgers), a World Record at 25k (1:12:25) and a World Record at 30k (1:26:47). What impressed me most was the 63 second lap he dropped at lap 45. An excellent showing to get things going.

The second race of the night was the Women's 5000 that was stacked with Americans (Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher, Amy Yoder-Begley, etc) and current World Record holder Tirunesh Dibaba. Well, Dibaba seemed to be having leg troubles before the race and did not start and the rest of the field never really got going fast enough early to give Flanagan a chance at the American Record. While she gave a valiant effort and finished strong in 14:49, you could tell she was a tad disappointed. Kara Goucher's comeback continued with a strong 15:11 showing and Yoder-Begley was way back just under 16.

Solinsky walks off the track

Next what was supposed to be the main event. The showdown of Chris Solinsky versus Galen Rupp in a winner take American Record style race. This never really happened as Rupp did not start, likely due to pollen issues and Solinsky dropped out 7 laps in (Side note: I wonder if either will try to go tomorrow). The race started rather abrupt with a 61 second first lap before going to 68, 67 and then falling into a steady diet of 64's.

While the front of the pack was sorting itself out, Mo Farah (who now trains with Rupp and Alberto Salazar) began to work his way through the pack. He eventually got to the front and powered home the last 600 for a convincing win and European (and British) Record in 26:46, the fastest time in the world in the past 2 years.

While the crowd seemed quite stunned that Rupp did not start, they were still treated to an excellent night of racing and an appetizer of what is to come tomorrow. Can't wait to get back in the morning!

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Eugene Diary: Part 3, My Run

Even though the doc told me 4-6 more weeks of rehab on my shin splints last Monday, I have been running a couple days a week and would not be passing up a run in Eugene. Lucky for me, it was near 80 degrees, so I skinned up, through on the shades, tempos and Zensah sleeves for shin protection and headed out with my iPhone 4 in tow; like a running tourist.

Lucky for me, they had a map in my hotel lobby called "Track Town USA, A Runner's Map." Pretty awesome stuff. So I headed out the door in search of Pre's Trail. I was only about a quarter mile from it and was happy to get on it. It is about 4 miles of chipped woodbark that makes you feel like you are running on a putting green, only firmer. I circled around that a few times before heading onto campus towards Hayward. They were setting up for the meet and I crossed paths with another runner who stopped and asked a coed out on a date, to the track meet. Awesome!

After leaving campus, I set my sights on finding Pre's Rock and with the help of google and my iPhone maps, I climbed up Summit and found it right off of Birch on Skyline. Pretty surreal to see it and all the things people leave there. Let me tell you, those roads back there are pretty treacherous, so I can see how accidents may happen. After taking a few photos, realized I was already about 10 miles in, so headed back to the hotel, put on a shirt and picked up a personal pan pizza and a Pepsi at Track Town Pizza. I'll be going there after the meet for a beer as it is two doors down from my hotel!

Here's some photos from my run:

Autzen Stadium view from Pre's Trail 

In Chapel Hill, they have Tar Heels, here they have Duck feet

Hayward Field 

They have lightposts on trails here 

Pre memorial outside Hayward

Pre's rock, close up

Pre's rock from afar

Pre's Trail

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Eugene Diary: Part 2, Press Conference

Press Pass

The last time I was in Portland, it rained for a week straight and was about 40 degrees. This was in late March. Today as I drove from Portland to Eugene, It was 75 degrees and sunny. Beautiful weather for a track meet. It took about 2 hours down the I-5 and I got to the Valley River Inn just as the questions with the individual athletes were starting. I don't really know the etiquette on how to interview an athlete, so I mostly just held out my recorder and took a few photos.

I did hear some interesting information from the athletes and will post mp3's up here when I chop it up later tonight or tomorrow morning. Here are some nuggets that I got.

Bernard Lagat: Going for American Record in the 2-Mile tomorrow. Aiming for 8:06, with a 4:04 first mile and a 4:02 second mile. Running the 5000 in New York, then the 2000 at Hicham El-Guerrouj's meet before taking aim at a very fast 5000 in Monaco.

Andrew Wheating: May double in the 800 and 1500 at the US Championships in a few weeks.

David Oliver: Not worried about Shanghai. Every race is a new one and he's ready to bring it against Liu Xiang tomorrow

And here are some photos I took:

10k start list

Press back drop

Oscar Pistorius (aka Blade Runner) 

Entrance to Press Conference

Bernard Lagat chatting with Lewis Johnson

Liu Xiang and the Chinese press

Nike gear for the athletes

David Oliver and the British press 

Andrew Wheating and a local TV station

Amy Yoder-Begley stopped by as well

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Eugene Diary: Part 1, Traveling

The trip out west to see this year's excellent Prefontaine Classic has started off well as I was bumped to first class on my flight from Raleigh to Houston and then again on my flight from Houston to Portland. Considering i've never flown first class before, this is pretty cool; one of the perks I can attribute to my day job, as upon starting this position I was able to obtain Premier Executive status on United, which translates into great accommodations when I decide to fly across the country to watch people run around in circles!

Upon arrival at PDX, I'll pick up my rental car for the weekend before getting onto the I-5 and heading south to Eugene. I'll be heading straight to the press conference at the Valley River Inn, where a handful of stars (of the many in town this weekend) will be taking questions from seasoned vets like the Oregonian's Ken Goe to noobs like myself.

The roster of athletes attending the presser includes international stars like Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang to tormented South African middle distance star Caster Semenya to Oscar Pistorius (aka Blade Runner). It will also include American stars David Oliver, Allyson Felix and the ageless Bernard Lagat. Finally, on hand will be two Eugene-based stars that have swiftly risen up the national (and international) ranks over the past few years, Ashton Eaton and Andrew Wheating.

I'll do my best to get some audio and photos before heading back to my hotel, going for a run on Pre's Trail and heading over to Hayward Field for "Distance Night in Eugene." Stay tuned... And if you are in Eugene this weekend, send me an email and we'll grab a slice and a beer at Track Town Pizza (WritingAboutRunning@gmail.com)

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