olympic marathon trials
i rolled out of bed this morning to catch the US men’s olympic marathon trials being streamed over the internet. the race was held in NYC in Central Park. last fall i had three mornings in a row that i got to run there and was amazed at how hilly it was. running 26.2 on that terrain would be awful challenging.
the video stream had some technical issues and i was about to give up and go for a run when it finally began working. i was able to watch from about 45 minutes into the race. shortly after the stream started working, my two oldest daughters came into the room to see what i was up to. alia took the most interest and sat on my lap for awhile to watch. honestly, it was a great race to watch as Hall broke away from everyone to win with ease while Ritzenhein and Sell rolled in with gutsy performances as well. seeing KK take the alternate spot gives me some hope for another quality runner if one of the other 3 can’t run in bejing.
i was pumped from watching the coverage so i headed out for a 7 mile run out and back on the glacial drumlin trail. i headed out in 27:45 and made it back in a little over 26 minutes.
later in the afternoon, i dialed up the score of the OSU-WI game on the internet and saw that one of the trials competitors – Ryan Shay – had died of an apparent heart attack. honestly, it was stunning news to read. all of the competitors in the race had to have run at least a 2:22 marathon (or an equally fast 10000m) just to toe the line. these aren’t your run-of-the-mill athletes tilting with windmills, most of these guys earn at least part of their living as professional runners.
regardless, it was very tragic news and a stark reminder that life is short.