Run to Win

Imagine that you are in a race, and you have been working with another runner for many miles. You know that you are both running faster than you could have alone, and there’s a $1000 pot for the first place finish. Would you be able to share that win, and the pot, or would you be too competitive and try to pull away, even if it meant a slower time over the long run?

That was an easy question for Erik Skaden and Mike Wolfe to answer. They agreed to run the final 25 miles of the Tahoe Rim Trail 100-Mile Endurance Run together, and to cross the line in unison.

The pair crossed the finish line at Spooner Lake together in 18 hours, 59 minutes, 10 seconds.

“We were running the same pace,” said Wolfe, a Missoula, MT, resident and two-time national champion in the 50-mile trail run. “When you run with someone, you run faster. It was fun.”

They split the money and also shared in the USATF 100 mile championship for the year.

I don’t know that I would be able to do that. I certainly have no problems helping out a fellow racer, especially in long races like a marathon or ultramarathon. It certainly beats running alone. But I’d still think that I would be tempted to test myself against whoever I was running with in the final miles of the race, even if it meant that I lost.

(More Info: RRCA)

In 1998, Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, Tyree Washington and Michael Johnson set the American 4×400m record with a time of 2:54.20. That record is in discussions to be removed, with the 2:54.29 that was run in the 1993 World Outdoor Championships getting reinstated. Young was banned for life in 2004, and Pettigrew has recently admitted to doping as far back as 1997.

“Removing this record is the right thing to do, pure and simple,” USATF CEO Doug Logan said. “We have no interest in a record that the facts - not rumors - have exposed as being achieved by fraudulent means by at least one athlete on the team. Obviously, Tyree Washington and Michael Johnson played no part in the doping activities of others, and it is a shame that they may suffer as a result. But our message is clear: compete clean, win clean and break records clean. Or, get out of our sport and out of our record books.”

I hope that the record is removed, and I hope that athletes are taking notice. I am sure that Michael Johnson would agree; he has already returned a gold medal from the 2000 Olympics that he had won on a different team with Pettigrew. Michael Johnson will still own the American record, since he was also on the 1993 team. The real victim here is Tyree Washington.

(More Info: USATF)

Marion Jones

USATF CEO Douglas Logan has written an open letter to President Bush urging him not to pardon Marion Jones for her illegal and unethical activities over the past decade.

I can not agree with him more and I plan on writing to the white house with my thoughts on the matter. Marion Jones broke the law, she cheated in her profession, and she lied about both for years.

There should be no double standards for athletes when compared to average citizens of the United States, and pardoning Jones will make us laughing stocks in the international track community. If you think that cycling as a sport gets a bad rap, wait until the United States takes a lenient stance against an admitted doper that broke multiple US laws including involvement in bank fraud.

Pardoning her sends the wrong message, and I think that she should take responsibility for the choices that she has made.

If you would like to send a letter to the White House, you can address it to the following address:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

If you would like to call the White House to voice your concerns, you can dial 202-456-1111 (or 202-456-6213 for TTY service.) To send a fax, dial 202-456-2461.

If you would like to send an email, address it to: comments@whitehouse.gov

The USATF has provided a sample email/letter that you can use when communicating with the White House about your thoughts on offering Marion Jones a pardon:
http://www.usatf.org/promotions/MarionJones/

Click through to read the rest of this entry for Douglas Logan’s open letter to the President.
(Click here to continue reading…)

Track coach Trevor Graham has been banned for life from any competition sanctioned by USATF, IAAF, or the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Graham is the person that broke open the BALCO scandal by mailing a syringe of “the clear” to USADA. Numerous athletes that he has coached have been caught doping or have admitted to doping in the past, and all claim that they got their drugs from Graham. He has been convicted in a federal court and is still awaiting sentencing.

“There has been a belief out there that coaches, doctors and other people who support athletes were somehow outside the long arm of the rules,” USADA CEO Travis Tygart said in a phone interview. “This is a strong reminder that they’re not, and that we’ll use our authority to hold coaches accountable if they assist and aid athletes in doping.”

Graham has been operating under a temporary ban for the past couple of years, but I can not imagine any athlete wanting to work with him even had he not received a lifetime ban. There have been numerous race organizations, especially in Europe, that have refused to allow athletes coached by him into their events for the past few years.

Hopefully this sets a good precedent for following the rules and competing cleanly, both from an athlete perspective and from their coaches and trainers.

(More Info: USATF - ESPN)

American athletes have been subject to drug testing when competing in international competition for years, but have not been subject to it domestically on any but the smallest scale. That is about to change in the coming years for the Intermediate (15-16 years old) and Young Men/Woman (17-18) divisions.

Starting in 2008, all youth championship races are going to have in-person drug education for the kids so that they know what the process involves and why they should avoid performance enhancing drugs. The idea is to instill a lifelong habit of fairplay by teaching them at a younger age to compete ethically and in such a way as to avoid the health risks of doping.

Beginning in 2009, there will be in-competition drug testing at all of the youth competitions.

I think that this is a great move. I believe that the younger generations coming up are already better educated than the previous generation, and I think that all of the recent doping scandals are bringing to light the fact that even if you get away with something in the short term you still stand to lose everything you have accomplished if you are discovered in the long term. This initiative should further reinforce that trend, and any children that are caught doping will have more of an opportunity to clean up and still have a competitive career.

(More Info: USATF)

Things are not looking so good for Justin Gatlin. His appeal to reduce his ban from 4 years to 2 years was rejected by CAS. USATF President Bill Roe had this to say:

“USA Track & Field respects the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding Justin Gatlin’s eligibility. This case has been complex and nuanced, and we are glad that it has come to a final resolution. Throughout the entire BALCO saga, the critical lessons have been clear: athletes must take responsibility for the substances they put into their bodies, and must choose wisely the individuals with whom they associate. We are now looking ahead, focusing on the Team USA squad for the Olympic Games that will be chosen at the Olympic Trials. These are the athletes who will take track and field into a brighter present and future.”

I am not surprised by this decision, but I do think that he got the short end of the stick. Gatlin’s first offense was because of medication he had been prescribed as a kid for ADHD, and I don’t think that the punishment that he received in college should necessarily have had any bearing on his professional career.

The matter is settled now, though, so in 2010 he can decide whether he wants to compete again or not.

(More Information: CAS - USATF)

There is a lot happening this week in the world of running, so today I have a quick round up for you rather than providing a series of short articles on each one.

Trevor Graham found guilty of lying to investigators

Things are not looking good for Trevor Graham, a track coach who has had multiple athletes admit or found guilty of cheating. He has so far been found convicted of lying to federal investigators about his interactions with a known steroid dealer and his facilitation of providing drugs to his athletes. The jury was not able to come to a consensus about 2 other charges against him.
(Source: ESPN)

California Dreamin’ Racing Series

The San Francisco, Long Beach and Surf City marathons in California have teamed up in a combined marketing effort to create the California Dreamin’ Racing Series, which will have a “competition within a competition” for competitors that want to run either the full or half marathons in each of the 3 races from this August through next February. There will be separate prizes and awards, and each finisher of all 3 races will receive a jacket and a large finishers medal with the logos of the 3 races. It is acting as a miniature Grand Prix type of race series.
(More Info: Press Release (pdf) - Home Page)

ING New York City Marathon Lottery closes on Sunday

Still considering paying the exorbitant fees to run a marathon in New York City? Well, if you want a chance to get through the lottery then Sunday is your last day to put your name in the hat. Guaranteed entry applications had to be in on May 1^st, so there is no way to get a spot in the marathon now without passing through the lottery. I enjoyed running the race, but the fees are just too high for me to consider running it again, unfortunately.
(Click here to apply)

Fantasy Track Meets » This Weekend

There are two track meets this weekend that will be counted towards your fantasy teams if you are participating. The IAAF meet in Berlin on Sunday will kick off the series at the international level, and the Reebok Grand Prix on Saturday is the 2^nd event in the USATF Visa Championship Series outdoor meets (it is actually the 3^rd meet in the Series but only the 2^nd fantasy meet.)
(Click Here for more information - Set up your teams: IAAF - USATF)

Fitness for Moms Carnival

I have been featured in the latest edition of the Fitness for Moms Carnival, which includes a short description of my article about how to find people to run with. The latest edition casts a spotlight on various articles about health, mothers, and working out.
(More Info: Go Workout Mom)

Summer Track Meets

Summer is almost upon us, which means that the high school and college track meets are just about done wrapping up and there will be time for us old fogies to get out there and burn up the track! The USATF lists over 200 open and masters track meets in the country over the next 3 months, and there are a series of 5 races being put on by the Maine chapter of the USATF. See if there are any near you and then dust off your track spikes! Looking at the dates for the Maine races, I don’t think that it is very likely that I’ll be competing too much this year. I already have commitments for all of the Wednesday night races and I will likely be running a different race the weekend of the championship meet.
(More Info: USATF Event Search - Maine » Summer Series (pdf) - Track Championships (pdf))
http://www.meusatf.org/

Last year, the IAAF put on a fantasy track & field league for the Osaka world championships. This past Winter, the USATF put on an event for the Visa Championship Series of races. I really enjoyed taking part in both leagues last year.

Well, this Summer the fun begins again. Both the USATF and the IAAF are providing an outdoor Fantasy Track series.

The USATF is going to center around it’s popular Visa Championship Series of races again, with the first meet happening this weekend at the Adidas Track Classic. There are two deadlines for making your picks. The 800m and the 5000m events are tomorrow night (Saturday) so those picks need to be made by 10:55 PM Eastern Time tomorrow. All other picks need to be made by 1:55 PM EDT on Sunday. A cool new twist on this season is that you can see who the favorites are based on who has already picked which athletes to win in each event. The entrant list sorts each athlete by their fantasy popularity.

The IAAF Fantasy Track game will begin with the June 1^st meet at the Golden League meet in Germany. The rules are a little different than they were for the Osaka games or for the USATF games. Rather than picking the athletes in individual events, or choosing a full complement of athletes with a maximum of 1 athlete from each country, you choose 4 captains that follow you from meet to meet and then you choose 5 additional athletes for each meet. If you choose athletes who score in the top 8 of their events, you score points.

Both leagues are free to join, although you are of course welcome to wager locally with your friends. Speaking of which - is anybody interested in a little friendly competition? Time is short for the start of the first USATF meet, but we could certainly get something together for the additional meets in the season and for the entire IAAF season. Let me know if you have any interest.