2009 4-Miler

I worked the Charlottesville Women’s 4-Miler yesterday, as I have pretty much every year for a long time. The setting at Foxfield is beautiful and the weather was very nice this year. The crowd was very large (I’d like to obtain a well-documented estimate of the number of spectators) and wonderfully enthusiastic. The decorations, including the banners with the names of loved ones lost to cancer, attached to the fences along the last mile or so of the course, were familiar, but they still get to me.

Envying pjm

I already wrote him a personal note, but I’m publicly admitting my envy for Parker being at the Worlds a-freakin’ ‘gain. Although he’s been very professional about it, he’s let slip about it in various venues. For example, he wrote that he finished ahead of Wilson Kipketer in an 800! Here’s the link to the page about the live blogging from the venue.

Kenenisa Bekele

After claiming first in the 10,000 meter race at the 2009 World Championsips on 17 August, Kenenisa Bekele snagged the gold in the 5000 today. In doing so, the Ethiopian champion duplicated his own accomplishment one year ago at the Beijing Olympics. What an achievement!

Bernard Lagat, a great champion in his own right, pushed Mr. Bekele on the home stretch, but suddenly, Mr. Bekele surged even faster over the final 20-30 meters. If Mr. Bekele is not in a class by himself among distance runners, he is in a very small one that includes runners like Emil Zátopek, Lasse Virén, and Haile Gebrselassie.

Bolting

Bolt! Sub 9.6. This is incredible! Mr. Gay runs a 9.7 and finishes second.

I envy Parker getting to see this live. PJM, do you think Bolt ran all the way through the tape? The videos show him looking around while still racing. Did he cruise a bit at the end?

USATF 09

I hustled home from work early today (yes, it was a Sunday) to catch a bit of the USA Track & Field (USATF) championships on TV. Beyond my own running (going poorly, but thanks for asking), there are several reasons for my interest. But mostly, it was just good to see T&F on TV.

Part of the interest was the local folks in the contests. Another part was that I lived fewer than a few kilometers from Hayward Field in Eugene (OR, US) for a few years. An additional part was that I though the combination vindicated my pleasure in K. Streeter’s recent article about T&F at Hayward. Yet another part was that I figured Parker Morse (sometimes commenter here virtually and also visitor here physically) would provide inside scoop.

I wasn’t disappointed on any of those fronts. Hayward looked spiffy. Gay, Keveren, Jesien, Garcia, and other U.Va folks acquitted themselves well. And Mr. Morse had sage observations.

But, how about the problem with the hurdle in the women’s steeplechase? Sheesh, it’s odd for a world-class facility to make that mistake. Check Mr. Morse’s observations.

The finish among David Payne, Allan Trammell, and Aries Merrit in the 110 hurdles was something. And, how about Dwight Phillips going 8.57m (yes, lightly wind aided)? Anyone doubt that we’ll hear more about sprinter Chalonda Goodman and thrower Anastasia Jemlini in the next 5-10 years? And the vaulters? Jumpers? Distance folks!

So, scoot on over to the USATF site and read what’s happened. And take a few secs to check Parker Morse’s reports (e.g., day 3 here) and unsponsored observations (gotta love “Flathills Rd”).

Envy is mine

Kurt Streeter reported about attending the Prefontaine Classic. Along the way, he took the opportunity to wonder why track doesn’t have the following it once did in the US. But, his appreciation of the meet was the main thing. Here’s his lead:

Reporting from Eugene, Ore. — Speaking with running legend Alberto Salazar late last week I noted that I was heading off to the Prefontaine Classic, the celebration of track and field held each year in Eugene, Ore. This, I told him, would be my first “Pre.”

“You’re going to love it,” Salazar replied. “It’s condensed. Just a few hours of nonstop action. Incredible fans . . . If it’s going to catch on in this country, this is the way track should be.”

It didn’t take long on Sunday to see that Salazar was right, on all counts.

I envy Mr. Streeter’s opportunity to watch the events at the meet. I would like to attend some day. When I lived in Eugene, it existed in another guise. Pre was still running for a couple of those years. After he died (a year before we moved to Illinois), the “Hayward Field Restoration Race” was renamed. I missed the chance to see the races. Sigh.

Read Mr. Streeter’s report. The track-and-field section of the Eugene Register Guard has more (with photos; note that this link is generic and will yield different content in a few days). There are other sources, too. See the Run Oregon entry by Joe Dudman and Kelly Johnson and, especially, the Web site dedicated to the event (though it was down when I hit it this AM).

Headless chicken stories

There apparently is some truth to what I thought was cartoon hyperbole. At least one chicken apparently survived beheading and lived for a long time, supposedly with a little brain stem and esophagus.

In animated short videos that I saw as a child, I remember watching illustrations of the concept. Replete with classical music and goofy actions (chicken raises its wing to feel for its missing head?), this was a commonplace.

Chickens were raised and (though I don’t do so any more) eaten at my house when I was a child. However, I don’t recall ever seeing un pollo sin cabeza in the chicken yard.

But I hadn’t encountered the story of Mike the Headless Chicken. Mike was a roster who lost his head in the 1940s and then went on to a career as a featured performer in a road show. His story is now the basis for an annual festival in the town of Fruita (CO, US), near where he hatched.

Habitat race Saturday

Saturday AM I’ll be at the 5K run (2-mile walk) sponsored by Hancock, Engel, and Associates as a fund raiser for Fluvanna Habitat for Humanity (download an entry form). I hope there are lots of participants for the event. I’ll be volunteering, not running. If you’re there, please say “Hey” to me. Link to my previous post on this event.