Catching up

I have to say the 'ole blog has been suffering from some neglect considering it's been 5 weeks.  Fortunately it hasn't been a lack of running to report on, but rather a busy and tiring work schedule.  Our new business is off to a good start, and I'm very excited about my roll.  Of course if you've read the papers you know that the financial markets have been in a bit of turmoul this past month, as fears of a European meltdown have spilled all around the globe.  For a trader in my business, market volatility typically creates profitable opportunities.  But when you're dealing with potential events such as large as large sovereign debt defaults, the dreaded term contagion sneaks in - meaning fear in one market pours over to most others.  At a time like this diversification has little benefit because asset classes tend to become highly correlated, decoupling into risky assets - stocks, corporate bonds, energy & industrial commodities, and in this case even the Euro, and into non-risky assets - in this case US treasury bonds & at times gold.  With markets behaving badly, I've had to spend up to 10 hours a week longer at the office than normal evaluating and managing the risks in our portfolio.  But enough of the boring stuff, because luckily getting my evening runs and workouts has been a great unwind for me. 

On Saturday May 1st I saw one of the greatest distance running thrills of my life at the Cardinal Invitational at Stanford.  At this same meet in 2001 I was standing on the edge of the track when Meb Keflezhighi broke the American 10K record running 27:13.  On this Saturday, former Oregon runner Galen Rupp had his sights set on beating the 9 year old record.  Rupp - well more his coach Alberto Salazar - had created some controversy before the race as he wavered between running the Oregon relays the night before (which had a bad weather forcast), Stanford on Saturday (which had a severe polin count), or a last minute race set up just for him on Saturday in Eugene.  To the delight of Northern California residents, he chose to race at Stanford, joining one of the deepest 10K fields on US soil in years.  In addition to Rupp, collegiate 10K record holder Sam Chelenga, Kenyan Daniel Salel, Chris Solinsky, and behind them a who's who of US 10K studs were all running. 

After a conservative first lap, the race developed as expected with Rupp tucking in behind his 2 pace setters clicking off staggering 65 second laps (which was the record pace).  The group hit the 5K split in 13:34 - right on pace.  It was still the 2 pacesetters followed by Rupp, Chelenga, Salel, and Solinsky still tagging along for the ride.  By the 4 mile mark, the 2 pacesetters had dropped off, and Rupp chased after history with 3 runners still in tow.  Rupped stayed on pace at first, but as he neared the end of 5 miles, the pace fell a second or two off target.  At this point, I was debating with my buddies in the stands whether or not Rupp would get the record.  I still had faith thinking that with 4 runners still in contention that the final mile would be fast enough. 

With 4 laps to go, the crowd was suddenly buzzing about Chris Solinsky.  The 6'2", 160 pound runner (which is very large for an elite 10K runner) was making his debut at the distance and was looking completely comfortable at US record pace with a mile to go.  Chris had been a high school & college national champion.  He had been an elite post collegian, but not yet a national champion at that level.  With 3 laps to go, Solinksy surged past the 2 african runners and tucked in right behind Rupp.  Could he possibly be in contention for the win here???  Coming off the turn with 2 laps to go, Solinsky moves out on Rupp's shoulder and after a slight delay surges into the lead.  By the backstretch he had opened up 10 meters, with Rupp surging after him.  With 2 Americans flying through the night with 600 meters to go, we all knew the record would fall.  Solinsky hit the bell lap and the announcer calls out his split of 60.2 seconds - and he looked effortless doing it!  The clock read 26:03.  Now the real kick began.  The last time down the back stretch there was no question that he would win the race and break the record... only a question of what time would he run.  As he hit 200 meters to go, there was a new possibility, COULD HE BREAK 27 MINUTES??  In the last straightaway, Solinsky lifted his knees, pumped his arms, finally showed his first signs of fatigue, but never slowed.  He crossed the line freezing the clock at 26:59.60!!  I doubt there's ever been quite an eruption from the Cobb Track grandstands.  Gupp finished 4th in 27:10 - under the old American Record.

In the days following the race, bloggers and message board posters tried to accuse Rupp of bad sportsmanship somehow.  Both runners quickly put an end to it.  The race video clearly shows Rupp congratulating Solinsky.  You can't blame Rupp for not jumping up and down and celebrating, but he showed class afterward.  The next day, Solinsky gave Rupp credit for leading through the toughest part of the race, and acknowledged he wouldn't have broken the record otherwise.  Then later in the week in an interview Rupp conceded that he was of course disappointed, but happy for his buddy Chris (as they both run for Nike in the Portland area).  What a great time for US distance running with Ryan Hall, Meb, Dathan Ritzhenheim, Matt Tegencamp, Galen Rupp, and now Chris Solinsky running at a world class level. 

Here's a great video of the race - if you haven't seen it, I'd highly recommend watching at least the last mile of the Flotrack video (middle link at 22 minutes).  Note you'll have to let it load for a few minutes before jumping ahead.

http://www.letsrun.com/2010/solinskyvideo0502.php


On a slower note, my running is back on track after the sprained ankle.  I started jogging the last week of April, and was consistently training by mid may.  It was a struggle at first, but the past two weeks I've felt consistently strong.  I ran Bay to Breakers as a tempo hoping to still match last year's time (I fell about 20 seconds short running 42:08 for 12K).  Then this morning, I ran 33:45 for the Marin 10K.  My first thought was great, just ran the same crappy time as last year.  I was running good splits early on (10:25 at 2 miles and 15:50 at 3 miles), but slowed badly in the 2nd half.  But a few hours later I think that's somewhat encouraging I matched last year's time, since my training has been focused almost entirely on hill stregnth for the Dipsea.  Plus the morning was pretty warm by the end of the race. 

I'm feeling good about my chances at the Dipsea.  I think when I taper back, my crash course fitness plan will be well timed to win my first black t-shirt... and hopefully one with a low number on it :)

Here's a pic I took of the AR 10K race with 500 meters to go...