Certified Rollers

A few thoughts on the Olympic Trials weekend that was in Atlanta.

One thing that I have learned over the last 10 years of being in Atlanta is that the city does major events really well. I don’t know if that’s a function of having the Olympics in 1996 or not, although so much has changed since then I would have to imagine the impact of those games is more legacy than infrastructure at this point. With the exception of Centennial Olympic Park.

The park serves as a kind of town square for these major events. It’s centrally located, close to many of the downtown attractions, and mass transit. It’s the perfect epicenter for a major event and it made for an ideal start and finish for the trials.

To kick the weekend off, I made my way downtown on Friday to meet up with a fellow Keene State alum Thomas Paquette. Being an alum of Keene State is great. Thomas was there after me and we’d never met but knew of each other through other guys that were on the team and through social media (Instagram and Strava). As bizarro as the world of social media can be, I’ve actually made a nice little running network through Strava.

I took him on a bit of tour of some of my favorite spots to run by in the city. We started at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and ran along a couple of parts of the course. We ran down Edgewood to the Beltline then up through Piedmont park. We jumped on Peachtree and then made our way through Georgia Tech before finishing up in Centennial Olympic Park.

You could feel the energy in the area. Whether it was people in town to spectate the race or the runners getting their last little shakeout in, there was a ton of energy and tension in the air. We also saw a fair number of runners testing out their fresh out of the box Alphaflys, which was quite the scene. A day later things looks way different on the course, so it was cool to get a little bit of a sense of things before hand. The calm before the storm if you will.

On the crowd – My mom used to take me into Boston for the marathon every Patriot’s day when I was growing up. We’d ride the Orange Line from Malden or Oak Grove and work our way out to some point on the course. Normally, we post up somewhere near the finish. When my dad ran Boston we took the Green Line out to BC thinking we’d see him run by, get back on the train and then see him again close to the finish. We were mistaken. I think we could have walked that last six or so miles faster than that jam packed train moved.

The crowds for Boston have always been legendary. That’s part of the story every year and while I expected the Atlanta Trials to have a good crowd showing, I was blown away upon arrival. Amanda and I met up with a couple of the Ultra Bros, Adam Aldridge and Matt Johnson and took the train in, just like mom and I used to. While we waited for the train to arrive it seemed like every high school cross country runner in the state made their way onto the platform.

It wasn’t quite the 5 a.m. train for Peachtree on 4th of July, but it was pretty close. We got off at Peachtree center to grab a coffee and make our way to the start. I somewhat foolishly thought we’d be able to get near the start 45 minutes before the gun. No chance. Centennial and the opening half mile or so of the course down Marietta was five people deep. I was scrolling Instagram after we got home later that day and it turns out we were like five feet from Kara Goucher but we had no idea because the crowd was so dense.

The crowd roared as men flew by in a blur of three-inch split shorts, sunglasses, and black-and-green shoes. We moved down to the first turn and saw the women roll by in similar fashion. We were all trying to pick out where our pre-race favorites and dark horses were but the throng of competitors flowed through the street like a crashing wave.

We were hyped. Almost embarrassingly so. As we hustled down to the Sweet Auburn neighborhood to catch the fields a second time before settling into Tracksmith’s watch party where the race would pass three times and they’d have TV coverage. The crowd was incredible. The energy at each place we stopped on the course was awesome. I was expecting the big groups in certain locations but it was awesome to see people stretched out all along the course. It was even noticeable on the broadcast when I re-watched it at home. Now, about that TV coverage.

On the TV coverage – I didn’t notice quite how rough it was while we were at the watch party because we were in and out during the race but when I went home and watched it later I quickly saw what the twitter reaction was about. I know it’s more difficult than it looks and that every one watching at home thinks they could produce it better, but it would have been great to have been able to alternate between dedicated men’s and women’s race commentators. Running coverage seems to always miss the move and it’s really the one part you need to nail. I’d like to see them have people focused on each race so they can dial in and explain what’s happening. Even if the camera’s don’t catch it live, they could explain what happened. Where the race broke open, where so-and-so fell off etc. Also, less about the shoes. Address it and then lets move on. Okay that’s my mini-rant on the coverage.

On Galen Rupp – I’m not the biggest fan of Galen Rupp, due to his long relationship with Alberto Salazar but one thing I’ve come to accept over time is that things aren’t as black and white as we’d like to think when it comes to doping. There is a lot of gray area. If you haven’t I suggest giving Lauren Fleshman’s interview with Rich Roll a listen. She brings up some good points about how things aren’t as cut and dry as we’d like them to be. That being said. I do like Rupp’s new coach, Mike Smith, and I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until something tells me I shouldn’t. Rupp was clearly the favorite and he showed why, taking control of the race around half way and seemingly just drifted off the front to take the win.

On people I’ll be rooting for in the future – I’ve become a big Scott Fauble fan. I really like his approach and I think he’s a great example of why sports go beyond the final result. It was a bummer to see him miss out on making the team but I am looking forward to what he does in the future.

Ditto for Peter Bromka. His story of being the fastest runner not to make the trials was heartbreaking. To give yourself completely to a goal and come up short is something I’ve seen up close and it’s painful and shocking, but the way he’s handled it has been amazing. Again, it’s what sports are about. There are countless stories beyond the top three finishers and are as compelling, if not more compelling. This sport should embrace those.

You can listen to and read the story here WBUR.com

On the Ageless Adbi – Abdi taking third was insane. If there is one thing we should have learned from the men’s race it’s that you can’t count him out. He’s such a gamer. The Atlanta course was build for a gamer like him and he delivered big time. Five Olympic teams is wild.

On Jim Walmsley – I think I was in the minority on Walmsley. It would have been an incredible story if he made the team, and while I would love to have seen that I don’t think it was ever really realistic. I don’t say that to be disparaging of him. it seems like a lot of people landed in two camps, ‘Jim FTW’ or ‘ultra runner boo’. Why? It was a great story going into the race and he generated interest in the race. He might not have had the resume that some of the favorites but no one else in the field matched some of the things he’s done either. That’s what makes running great though. He qualified so he had the same shot as everyone else. In the end, he acquitted himself pretty well. He had a solid performance, beat some of the guys that people were picking to make the team. Is he top 3 marathoner in the US, no. But my interest in the sport spans various distances and disciplines. We should be embracing things that create interest in our sport. Not poo pooing them in Lets Run. That goes for both the road and ultra camps.

The whole damn women’s race – The women’s race was incredible. Going in, I thought the top five or six women would separate early but it was awesome to see a massive pack of women stay together deep into the race. I wish I’d gotten to see what happened when Aliphine Tuliamuk and Molly Seidel got away, but the reaction of our little group when we saw them with around 1.5 miles to go was shock and excitement. I’m a big fan of what NAZ Elite is doing out in Flagstaff, so it was great to see Tuliamuk take the win and Molly Seidel taking second in just her second marathon was epic. She’s about to be the summer 2020 version of Jessie Diggins. I don’t know if she’s going to have the gold medal, but her story is going to be one to follow during the games.

In closing, it was a great weekend in Atlanta. The city has continually shown that it’s a great place to host major events. I’ve seen nothing but praise for Atlanta as the location for this race. Granted the wind and course weren’t kind to the runners, it made for a great race.

It was awesome to see how much interest there was in the running community surrounding the race. From the crowd and vibe in Atlanta, all of the pre-race discussion and hype, and the epic nature of the performances of the day it makes me long for more events like this. Can we add an event or two to the Olympics? Let’s just pay more attention to road and trail races in general. Lets start with that.