Track and Field Blogs - Michael Reneau

Last weekend I had the opportunity to participate in the PF Chang’s Rock and Roll Arizona Marathon’s “Running Down a Dream” program as a pacer. The program offered support to 39 women making their final bid for an Olympic Trials qualifying time. As pacers, Luke Humphrey, Mike Morgan, Pat Moulton, and myself, were asked to run even 6:20 pace through 22 miles. Should be easy enough, right? That’s what we thought, until we started meeting the women. The pressure started to build with every new introduction.

Some had different pacing strategies—choosing to go out a little slower than 6:20s and negative split, while others’ strategies depended entirely on our ability to hit the pace and hold it. Hitting pace on those all-important first miles is difficult enough when it’s your pace. We would be running blind—with no experience at that pace—with 39 women on our heels. Then, consider all the hard work that was put in to prepare for what would probably be their last chance to make the 2008 Olympic Trials…suddenly our little trip to the Valley of the Sun to break up the long Michigan winter was starting to get us a little tense.

Needless to say, we were relieved when we lapped the watch at 6:18.9 on the first mile, followed by a 6:19.95 on the second. Through four or five miles, most of the women were still there, but eventually the pack whittled down to about seven women and a half dozen or so men who we had picked up along the way. And when we stepped off the road at the 22-mile marker, five of the women looked like they had a legitimate shot at hitting the standard…and they did!

Congratulations to all the women, but especially those that qualified…

Olympic Trials Qualifiers at PF Chang’s RNR Marathon
Linda Sommers Smith Arroyo Grande, CA 2:41:04
Sally Meyerhoff Tempe, AZ 2:42:47
*Susan Loken Phoenix, AZ 2:44:24
Kristen Henehan Silver Spring, MD 2:45:12
Allison Kerr Vacaville, CA 2:46:02
Betsey Keever San Francisco, CA 2:46:06
Michele Suszek Aurora, CO 2:46:07
Lisa Thomas Alexandria, VA 2:46:11
*Already attained the standard.

There were some near misses…Amy Phillipi-Taylor of Spring Grove, PA missed by 17 seconds, but still ran a six-minute personal best. Mary Coordt missed by a minute, while Amy Farrell of Saranac, NY was seventy seconds shy of the standard. There were others who missed by larger margins, but still managed some impressive personal bests.

All in all, it was a great experience! As an athlete, I spend way too much time on myself—training, tending to aches and pains, fretting about sleep and my diet, setting/hitting/missing goals, re-setting goals, and on and on. It is constant self-appraisal, and it is tiresome. Helping the women in this program strive for a spot on the start line at the Olympic Trials was a welcome reprieve. So, thanks to everybody at Elite Racing for asking us to participate in the program and thanks to all the women in the program for allowing us to share the experience with them. Good luck at the trials in April!