Dear Dennis, I skipped my national championship (which I’ve never won) to run a time trial in Europe. Am I normal?— Andy W., Eugene, OR.

Don’t worry, Andy, you’re normal. Just ask Allyson Felix, Lashawn Merritt, World Champion Chanelle Price (Note: Her name permanently had four words in it now) , Shalane Flanagan, Matt Centrowitz, and a host of other crowd-pleasing no-shows.  Props to American-record holders Bernard Lagat, Molly Huddle, Galen Rupp, Evan Jager and past national champs Emma Coburn, Alysia Montaño, and Leo Manzano for showing up in Sacramento (Note: The only time these words have ever been written: Sure seems like Will Leer wishes he were normal.).

But. People respond to incentives. The only reason we feel so entitled to an awesome USA championships is that three out of four years, we use those championships to pick teams.  And when an opportunity to make a team is available, crazy things happen. In countries where national championships aren’t used to pick teams, those meets are frequently a joke. Check out just about any result from Canadian nationals. Here’s a blatantly cherry-picked example: in 2011, in a country that has Simon Bairu, Cam Levins, and Mo Ahmed, 34:30 was good for third place in the 10k.

Maybe we shouldn’t be blasting stars for skipping USAs in non-Olympic/WC years, but instead asking ourselves how we can get them all in the same place at the same time in 2018 and 2022. Having separate US champs for each event or event group— think along the lines of a street field events meet, road mile, American-only 5k at Payton Jordan, a big money American-only XC race, etc.— could be one way. Club relays are probably a pipe dream, but let’s take a moment to salivate over a “no love lost” Nike Oregon Project vs. Bowerman Track Club vs. Brooks Beasts vs. NY*NJ 4x1500 every four years.

The bottom line is that when we incentivize national meets three years in a row and then take away the incentive in the fourth year, we shouldn’t be surprised that the stars don’t show up. We should be looking for a way to incentivize the fourth year.

Hey! You never see anyone skipping MY national championship, and Bob Johnson might have been right when he called it the “best track meet in America.”— Mark E., Indianapolis

First of all, Mark, that’s not a question. Second, what about Indianapolis attracts inert, anachronistic bureaucracies? Third: The NCAA is a bloated mess that provides us with amazing moments on a regular basis. (It also is the reason I get paid).

In conclusion: NCAA, we all wish we knew how to quit you.

Stop complaining — what cool stuff are we going to see this summer?

World Juniors at Hayward at the end of July are going to be amazing, from an American perspective and otherwise.  The Two Girls have an outstanding chance at coming home with medals— the bad news is that Cain (3k) and Efraimson (1500) won’t go head-to-head in what clearly has the potential to become a really fun rivalry. (Though Cain may have thrown a little cold water on any rivalry talk by toasting Efraimson at USA outdoors).

The last time Trayvon Bromell ran at Historic Hayward Field, he broke the world junior record. With the possibilities of warmer weather and Japanese phenom Yoshihide Kiryu (who’s trying to become the first Asian-born athlete to break 10.00 in the 100) pushing him, Bromell may better his own mark.

On the pro circuit:

The American men and women are going to run some fast mid-distance times. Look out for historically fast PRs from Ajee Wilson, Brenda Martinez, and World Champion Chanelle Price in the 800 and Cain, Katie Mackey, Matt Centrowitz, Wheating, and Will Leer in the 1500. Price, Martinez, and Centrowitz are running at Lausanne on July 3.

Jim Murray wrote that “Roger Bannister studied the four minute mile the way Jonas Salk studied polio - with a view to eradicating.” A few American distance runners will certainly be taking an eradicatory glance at the records in their events, including Jenny Simpson in the 1500, Simpson’s training partner Emma Coburn in the steeple, Molly Huddle in the 5k, Duane Solomon in the 800, Evan Jager in the steeple, and Galen Rupp in the 5000. We know that the first batch of record attempts will come in Paris on July 5, with Rupp, Simpson (in a race being rabbited by the best blogger in the game, Phoebe “DangerSmoke” Wright), Coburn, and Solomon entered in stacked fields.

Can Genzebe Dibaba keep up her scorching hot form after the greatest indoor season a female distance runner has ever had? Will she even be the fastest Dibaba sister? Dibaba junior will run the 3k at Lausanne.

Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell are re-joining the circuit, meaning that in an 8-man race with those two, Justin Gatlin, and Dwight Chambers, fully half a 100m final could be composed of convicted drug cheats.

Some crazy stuff that I’m not accounting for is going to happen. Who would have predicted that Dathan Ritzenhein would run 12:56 in 2009, or that Andrew Wheating would run 3:30 in 2010?

The best part of the summer, though, is going to be dudes jumping over stuff. One of the justly self-anointed Supermen is going to break Javier Sotomayor’s (possibly cocaine-fueled) high jump world record no later than September’s Memorial Van Damme in Brussels. And in the best moment of the year so far, Renaud Lavillenie has already broken perhaps the most hallowed record of them all: he skied 6.16 meters to take the pole vault from Sergey Bubka at The Tsar’s own meet. What happened next was terrifying: Lavillenie badly injured his foot— he was attempting a height that was simply too high for humans. Thankfully, Air Lavallenie is OK, but his Icarus moment reminded us why we love track and field. Despite the piss-poor money, megalomaniacal coaches, opaque bureaucracy, and scattershot media, it’s still the purest sport in the world, the only one that lives at the border of our limits and literally redefines exactly what people can do.

One last question: Speaking of human limits, WHERE THE HELL IS USAIN ST. LEO BOLT?!??!— Dennis Y., Philadelphia

Like so many exasperated football coaches and Secretaries of Defense before me, I don’t know the answer to my own question. See you in Lausanne.

Editor's Note: Just kidding. As of this morning, the Commonwealth Games.