And They're Off!

 Track and field at the 2012 Olympics is officially underway! Several preliminary events have already happened this morning but what I'm really excited about are the Women's 10,000m today (3:25pm) and the Men's 10,000m tomorrow (3:15pm). Oh, and that little race--which one is it?

The Olympic Marathon Course

The Men's 20km Race Walk WOMEN'S MARATHON!!!! That's right--it's Sunday at an ungodly hour (for us Americans) so I'll be watching it on tape-delay when I wake up (I'm going to a friend's bachelor party Saturday or you better believe I would wake up early and watch it live). This should be an awesome race to watch.

The organizers have designed a brand new course, one that will maximize views of London's famous sites like Buckingham Palace, Parliament and the Tower of London. It won't be as fast as the London Marathon course, which is pretty flat, because this one includes several short steep uphills and downhills along with tons of turns (including 4 U-turns!). Nevertheless, with an amazing field we should still see some great times.

For the US, our best hope of a medal in this event lies with Shalane Flanagan who took bronze in the 2008 Olympic 10k. Kara Goucher could also surprise us with a podium finish, though I think it's more likely she'll be in the lower top-10. As I reported earlier in the week, Desi Davila has been having some serious issues so--assuming she makes it to the start--I don't think she'll be much of a contender. Perhaps the biggest threat is Kenya's Edna Kiplagat who took gold in Beijing. No matter what happens, it should be a great race.

When Your Coach is Ryan Hall

It's not often a major newspaper devotes heavy coverage to the running world but with the Olympics fast approaching the appetite for stories about US athletes is obviously increasing. This past weekend the New York Times ran a wonderful profile of Ryan Hall by Jeré Longman titled, A Runner's Belief: God is His Coach. As always, I encourage to read the whole piece--it's surprisingly in-depth--but I thought I would offer some of my reactions.

Credit: runlearnrepeat

Regardless of whether you're a spiritual person, a religious devotee, or a militant atheist, it's hard not to appreciate that Hall's decision to forgo a "traditional" coach took guts. This was certainly not a case of a cocky runner saying, I'm too cool for school. Hall has always come across to me as a very humble person (so has Meb Keflezighi for that matter, coincidence that these are our two best marathoners?).

There's always a danger when we rely too much on someone else for guidance that we'll become passive and accepting. I think part of what Hall realized was that he needed to take more ownership over the direction of his training. His former coach makes the point in the article that:

“It’s not easy to say, ‘I screwed up,’ ” Mahon said. “It’s easier when someone else says, ‘This is why, and we can change it.’ ”

That's definitely true but part of Hall's new program is about being very in touch with his own running. At the end of the day whether Hall is talking to God or himself, what he's trying to do is to listen to his body and to carefully evaluate his training strategies. That level of self-awareness is something we should all seek, whether we have a coach or not.

There's one last line in the piece that I really love:

His spiritual growth, [Hall] said, has freed him from caution and a dependence on results for his happiness.

I think it's really important not to be too results focused. We need to be able to put ourselves out there, give it our all, and just feel good about that.