Stop Making Sense

Rarely does USATF, this country's governing body for track and field, make decisions that make sense.  So when USATF released its roster for the upcoming World Championships in Daegu I just about fell over.  One of my personal favorites Lauren Fleshman ran her way onto the team.

USATF, much to my surprise, decided that Fleshman deserved the spot over Desiree Davila who had beaten her at nationals.  Davila's had a great season but lacks Lauren's credentials when it comes to championship racing.

A rough spring left Fleshman short on conditioning when she ran nationals in July.  She finished only 8th.  But Fleshman headed to Europe for six weeks of stellar training and it paid off with her best race on Saturday in London where she won the 5000 where she handily beat Davila.

Last year Fleshman surprised just about everybody when she won nationals at 5000 meters.  She was coming off a two year injury grind that nearly forced her out of the sport.  Her memorable post-race interview was unvarnished and refreshing when she proudly proclaimed her bold move at the end to take the race was just balls.

Even more shocking was Fleshman's announcement today that she will run this fall's New York City Marathon.  She's hoping preparing for New York will make her even stronger as a 5000 runner going into the 2012 Olympic Trials.  Given her fragility over the last three years it's a big gamble but if she can survive NYC she could put herself in a position to make it to the Olympic finals in London.

So when August 30th rolls around Lauren and another personal favorite Amy Hastings who trained in high school under the watchful eye of one of my best buddies Mike Bloemker will toe the line in Daegu for the 5000 meter heats.  It all goes to show that good things do happen to good people who put in the work and persevere.  Lauren and Amy are both shining examples of that.

A Tale of Two Runners

This weekend offered a two day fest of track and field with the Diamond League meet in London, the last major competition before the World Championships which start at the end of August in Daegu, South Korea.  Of special interest to me was a mini-drama playing out in the women's 5000 meter race.

I was watching two American runners, both with a lot hanging in the balance, one hoping against hope to make it to the World Championships.  First, there's Lauren Fleshman, a young woman I had the privilege of meeting five years ago at the wedding of one of my best friends.  Lauren was good friends with the bride, also a friend of mine.

Lauren was the quintessential hippie girl, talking about yoga, good nutrition and a beautiful smile that would light up the whole room.  You'll notice that Lauren's blog is one that I follow on my blog wall and it's a no holds barred look at what it takes to be a world class runner.

Lauren's had an amazing run of bad luck.  She got injured just before the Olympic Trials in 2008 and then staged a shocking comeback win in 2010 at US Nationals.  The injury bug left her short of conditioning at nationals this year leaving her a distant 8th and in a near impossible position to make it to Daegu.

Then there's Leavenworth High School grad Amy Hastings, a protege of the same best friend at whose wedding I met Lauren.  Hastings had a great collegiate career at Arizona State but stunned everyone in her marathon debut in Los Angeles this March running 2:27:03 making her a candidate for the U.S. Olympic Team in the marathon.  Amy then ran a brilliant 5000 meters at nationals placing second winning a spot to represent the United States at the World Championships.

Going into Saturday's London race Amy was hoping to run 15:14 and meet the "A" standard for Daegu as was Lauren who had run a horrible race the week before in Oslo.  Two other Americans also figured into the "A" standard chase, Desiree Davila and Jen Rhines.  The pecking order was Davila, Rhines, and Fleshman.  Lauren would need her all three fellow Americans to fail and she would need to run 14 seconds faster than she had the week before to make the team, a pretty tall order.

Confused, you should be!  Angela Bizzari finished 3rd at nationals and also failed to run the "A" standard.  If Hastings ran the "A" standard than Bizzari would make the team regardless of what anything Davila, Fleshman or Rhines did in London.  In the end I hoped that Hastings would get her qualifier and make the team and that Lauren would run a fast race.

Unfortunately only half of what I wanted came to fruition.  Amy was in the mix until about a mile to go.  It looked like the pressure of the race simply got to her.  Meanwhile, Lauren had stayed at the back of the pack and worked her way to the front with three laps to go. 500 meters from the finish Fleshman hit the accelerator and gapped the field ending any doubt and grabbing one of her biggest victories to date.  She ran 15:00.57 smashing through the "A" standard.  Hastings struggled home in a respectable 15:17 leaving her off the team.  Unfortunately for Lauren, both Davila and Rhines also ran under 15:14, both women had finished ahead of her at nationals. 

USATF in the end will decide which of those three will go to Daegu.  Lauren's clearly faster than Desiree but in the political craziness of USATF there's no telling who will go.  Rhines is already running the 10000 so I doubt she would want to double.  Here's hoping for a miracle and some redemption for Lauren Fleshman in the form of a trip to Daegu.

Large and in Charge

Is there any doubt about who rules the roost when it comes to the Riga branch of the family?  In case you haven't seen her lately this is Masha.  She's granddaughter #1.  The baby carriage in her grasp contains Maryanne, tucked away in the other carriage is Dasha, granddaughter #2.  I don't know the name of her friend at the end of the leash.

Masha and Dasha are enjoying a few weeks of R and R at a coastal retreat along the Baltic.  Fashionable Riga residents like Masha always escape the summer heat of the big city for a little quality time at the beach.  The vacation getaway is the town of Saulkrasti, which sits about 25 miles east of Riga.  The family settled down in a cozy dacha.  The dacha came with the four-legged friend but this sobachka (that's Russian for dog) won't be making the trip back to Riga.

Grandpa and grandma know that Masha's birthday is just a month away.  A sobachka might make the perfect present.  But it better be a stuffed one, otherwise we would be disowned by mom and dad!

In Search of Rush Limbaugh

The Czarina and I took a drive across the state on Saturday for a little adventure.  The idea was to visit the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach but the Czarina wanted to find the home of conservative mouthpiece Rush Limbaugh.  He's got a massive compound in Palm Beach that sits astride the Atlantic Ocean. 

The expedition was a little disappointing.  The Limbaugh compound is surrounded by lush vegetation.  It was damn near impossible to see much of anything.  As we drove by the amazingly opulent beachfront homes it was pretty clear that folks like us are largely unwanted on this exclusive enclave.  They make parking a real crap shoot if you want to access the beach and enjoy a dip in the ocean, which the Czarina and I did.

But that's off the topic.  The Czarina was more than a little disappointed that she didn't get to see more and spent much of the night scouring the Internet looking at pictures of what we couldn't see from the street.

Rush must feel pretty proud of himself.  He's helped create the anti-tax, anti-government frenzy that calls itself the Tea Party.  And now the country sits on the brink of a needless economic calamity because of his spawn.

We live in a world where government needs to be smaller and entitlement programs need to be reeled in but we also live in a world where the rich, like those with their Palm Beach hideaways, need to pay more in taxes. 

Boehner Boned

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.  It doesn't matter where you stand on the debt ceiling ruckus going on in Washington, D.C.  What's amazing is that John Boehner, Speaker of the House, can't get his own party in line for a vote.  Besides witnessing a economic meltdown, we are surely watching the end of Boehner's short reign as Speaker.

I almost feel sorry for the Ohio Republican.  I think he would have gone for historic proposal to cut spending and raise taxes as part of the debt ceiling deal discussed more than three weeks ago with President Obama.  But Boehner couldn't control the Tea Party segment of the Republican Party.  I also suspect the intentions of Majority Leader Eric Cantor.  It strikes me that Boehner's right hand man in the House covets the Speaker's job more than anything. If John Boehner is Speaker by the fall I would be shocked.

As for the debt limit fight, there's plenty of blame to go around.  Republicans want to blame President Obama for the economic mess while conveniently forgetting how George Bush's policies landed us in this mess in the first place.  Two wars unpaid for, a drug plan unpaid for, and a nice tax cut for wealthy Americans.

The President contributed to this mess.  The stimulus spending plan he produced in the first few months of his presidency was nothing but pork.  Instead of spending money on infrastructure projects that would have created thousands of jobs he was steamrolled by his own party and much of the money went for pet projects pushed by Democratic members of Congress. 

The healthcare reform bill missed the mark as well.  The country needs to get its healthcare house in order.  But once again President Obama's approach missed the mark.  Competition is the key along with tort reform.

One final thought as the clock ticks down to August 2nd.  The Tea Party is on a path to help destroy what's left of the the Republican Party.  Their unending push for a balance budget amendment is a red herring.  Think about it.  Even if the House and Senate would vote for the amendment it will take a minimum of two years just to get the amendment through all of the state legislatures in the United States.  That means it would be 2013 or 2014 at the earlier that it becomes the law of the land and more likely 2015 or 2016. 

The Tea Party can stand by its principals, wreck John Boehner's political career, and destroy the life savings of the Americans who can least afford the economic fallout a debt default will help bring about.  In doing so they will breathe new life into the unions and sway more independents back to the left.  The Tea Party doesn't care, they just want to get that black man out of the White House and they see this as the best way to do it. 

Humility in the Humidity

The Great Heat Index Massacre of 2011 brought with it a surprising amount of relief this past week.  The afternoon rains have returned making the evening runs a lot more tolerable.  The 100 plus degree heat index has fallen to somewhere between 80 and 90.  While it's tolerable, the running really isn't a lot easier.

Training is a grind and will continue to be so for the next six weeks or so.  The hardest part is that the thought of doing a run of more than 90 minutes is impossible to imagine.  Strolling down memory lane through the old training logs I know I've survived summer long runs in Southwest Florida.  It's a matter at this point of risk/reward. 

I can tolerate 40 to 50 minutes of hot weather running, sometimes even an hour.  But I don't see much to be gained by hammering out more miles and feeling absolutely miserable.  Most evenings when I return from a training run I'm drenched in sweat.  Only my shorts are relatively dry and as soon as I stop they get soaked as well.

It's even tougher for the Czarina.  Her shorts are usually soaked within the first 15 minutes of any summer run.  Her Northern European blood just doesn't like the heat and humidity. 

We've been discussing the realities of hot weather training.  I'm trying to convince her that she doesn't need to do the same amount of mileage I attempt on any given day.  All too often now she's having to stop and walk in the middle of one of her runs.  The Czarina is so tough-minded that she doesn't want to concede anything.  But her seven months of layoff because of plantar fasciitis is showing itself.

The biggest problem is we're both getting older.  I think our age is really beginning to show itself in our ability to tolerate the heat.  What once was a breeze at 50 isn't nearly so easy at 55. 

Heat Index 134

All the news about the big heat wave makes me laugh.  I've survived many summers living in Arizona and Southwest Florida.  I know what hot is, at least I thought I did until today.

The Czarina got home as usual just before 6 p.m. and I noticed that some clouds had rolled in making a longer than unusual run appear inviting.  We headed out the door about 6:15 and I was ready to go 6 miles.  The Czarina wasn't so sure.

A massive cloud hid the sun for the first mile or so and I noticed at about a mile and a half it had rained in that section.  The trail immediately went into sauna mode as the sun started peaking out, steaming the left over moisture off of the asphalt.  The wet part of the trail gave way to dry pavement at 2.5 miles and I thought it's not so bad.  I turned around at 3 miles still feeling full of run and noticed the Czarina was nowhere in sight.

I was clipping along pretty good until just before 4 miles and the breeze out of the south felt more like a blast furnace.  Usually any breeze on a run around here in the summer brings welcome relief but not this time.  Shortly after 4 miles I began thinking how nice it would be to walk home, but then I realized the Czarina didn't have a house key and if she was facing a bathroom emergency upon her arrival home all hell would break loose.

I soldiered on wondering if it was possible that my brains could be melting inside my head.  I checked my split at 5 miles and saw that I had actually managed to run a 9:15 mile.  As I looked ahead I spied a solitary figure in the distance walking.  I realized that the Czarina had succumbed to the heat and was walking it in.  She was a half mile in front of me but I figured I would catch her before I reached home.

Now I was motivated to keep moving forward and I kept putting one foot in front of another.  Two blocks from home I caught the Czarina who was strolling down the sidewalk.  Once I hit the 6 mile mark I turned around and walked home with her.  She told me the heat forced her to stop her run at 3 miles.  I couldn't blame her.  It was brutal.

I hit the front door and headed for the computer, curious to see what the temperature was at 7:15 p.m.  It was 95.9 degrees, in small print just below it read Heat Index 134.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  But then I looked at the dew point, which stood at an unbelievable 87 degrees.  No wonder I wanted to walk home after 4 miles.