KIMbia Athletics

Matt Tegenkamp, Brent Vaughn and Chris Solinsky all advanced to Monday’s 5,000m final.

Matt won his heat, the first. Taking the lead in the last lap, Matt ran a sub-60 last lap after a slow opening (8:37 at 3K) to finish in 13:54.62. Brent Vaughn didn’t finish in the top 6, and therefore had to await the results of the second heat to see if he got through to the final as one of four time qualifiers.

Surprisingly, the second heat, which Chris was in, went out even slower. Chris, with “strict orders not to take the lead until three laps to go,” found himself in second for most of the race. He wound up second in 13:59.65. Brent’s 14:06.90 from the first heat got him into the final as the last time qualifier.

“I’m excited to see what happens on Monday,” Chris said. “Everyone certainly saved it tonight, so Monday should be something special.” We agree.

Things didn’t go as well for Elva Dryer in the women’s 10,000m final. She finished 15th in 33:38.60. “No go” was Elva’s two-word race summary. “When they made that move, I just had no acceleration.” Still, she said, “I know I still have good fitness, and I’m optimistic I can show it soon, most likely on the roads. I like the roads!”

5,000m results | 10,000m results

Things will get interesting right away when the meet starts today, with the men’s 5,000m heats and women’s 10,000m final. The 5,000m heats seem a little unbalanced, but that’s the luck of the draw, and certainly Chris Solinsky should enjoy his morning and afternoon a little more by virtue of them.

We had dinner with Elva and Russ Dryer last night, and they were upbeat about Elva’s chances of making her third Olympic team.

In the meantime, here are the sorts of things that happen when the running world descends on Eugene:

• Alice Schmidt‘s father-in-law is in your row on the flight from San Francisco to Eugene.
• You (well, Tom Ratcliffe) gets stopped in the grocery store by Alberto Salazar.
• You (well, Tom and Scott “Wrong Way” Douglas) get lost on a run and happen upon Pre’s Rock. It’s on a surprisingly narrow road in a nice neighborhood setting. We’ll go back later with camera.

We might as well end our video series as we began it–by being very, very serious.

We hope you’ve been educated, entertained or at least distracted at work by the series. We’ll be in Eugene starting tomorrow and will have regular updates from there (including video, we hope, depending on the whims of those enforcing the meet’s Ceauşescuesque taping provisions).

Teg is brimming with good ideas about how to better promote the sport he loves. Networks, meet directors, federations, are you listening?

After a highly successful career at the University of Colorado, which included a school record of 13:18.46 for 5,000m, Brent Vaughn will make his professional debut on June 27 in the 5,000m qualifying rounds at the Olympic trials. Brent is coached by Colorado coaching legend Mark Wetmore. With his wife (and former teammate) Sara, he is parent to Ciara Grace Vaughn, who will turn 2 in September.

Will you be staying in Boulder for the foreseeable future?
Yeah, but I’m actually hoping to do some altitude training in Boulder and then some periods at sea level, hopefully in Portland [Oregon].

With the Jerry Schumacher crew?
I imagine we’ll meet at the same time and start our runs together. I don’t know if we’ll be doing the same workouts, but it would be cool if I could at least meet with them.

When would that occur versus when you would be at altitude?
It’s not something I’ve gotten into too much yet. I have to talk with my coach and see when’s the best time, depending on what my racing schedule is next year. We have to plan that out and then see where it fits in.

Have you had a chance yet to think about what else might be different now that you’re not in college?
I think the main thing is I’m going to have a lot more time to rest. I think I can train harder than I did this past year. I look forward to doing that—throwing in more workouts, and harder workouts, and more volume, and also resting more.

Did you enjoy being a student, or were you kind of eager by the end for it to get over so that you could move on to the next phase?
I started off as a math major and I finished that in four years, and then I picked up a business major, and while business school was easy, I didn’t really enjoy it. By my fifth year I was pretty burned out on school and was more focused on athletics.

Is your main focus the next few years the 5,000?
Probably 5,000 and 10,000.

At the Olympic trials, of the guys who have the Olympic A standard, you’ve run more 5Ks this year than the rest of them. Lagat has run one, Tegenkamp one, Solinsky none. Is that good or bad for you?
I don’t know. I guess it’s probably a slight disadvantage that I had to go run all these meets. But luckily for me, a lot of them weren’t all-out efforts. That’s good, that I didn’t have to race hard every single time. I think more than anything it’s a mental thing. I feel fresh and I’m very excited for the trials. I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time. I think I’m just as prepared as all those other guys.

First I have to focus on getting there. I think they only take 12 guys, and it’s a loaded field, so first I’m going to focus on getting there. After Friday night, then I’ll think about the final. It’s a deep field, so I better be on my game in the prelim, and then even more so in the final.

Everyone knows that at least a few runners take performance-enhancing drugs. How do clean athletes striving for excellence deal with that reality?

Tomorrow: Teg Talks: Marketing the Sport

We’re proud to welcome Sean Quigley to KIMbia. Sean just graduated from La Salle University, and finished his college career by placing 6th in the NCAA 10,000m championships. He’ll make his professional debut at the Olympic 10,000m trials on July 4. In April he set a personal best of 28:03.72 while winning the Stanford Invitational 10,000m.

You just graduated. What adjustments will you make now that you’re not tied to college racing schedule?
I guess I’m more committed to running now that I don’t have a class schedule and those other things that go along with college running. Now I’ll just be focused on running.

What will be your primary focus in first couple of years?
I’d like to stick to the track for a couple of years. I feel like I’d like to improve on the track and max out my potential there, and then give it a go in the marathon. I’m sure I’ll do some road races the next few years just to get my feet wet there. Eventually I believe I’ll be a marathoner. But I want to spend the next couple of years getting quicker on the track. I’m really in no rush to jump into the marathon. It could be two, three, four years. I’m just going to take it race by race.

You’re choosing to stay in Philadelphia and keep working with Charles Torpey. Who will you have to train with?
I’ll be training with a couple of guys on the team. I’ll probably just swing by and do a couple of runs a week with them, and I’m sure I’ll do the workouts at La Salle because my coach will be there and it’s convenient.

Did you think at all about going somewhere else, joining another group, going to Flagstaff, anything like that?
I’m certainly open to that maybe later, but I just want to see what happens here. This has been working for me so far, so for now I don’t want to change what I’m doing. Groups out there, there are positives, but for me right now this is working, so I don’t feel like I need to change it.

Have you thought about what you’re going to do all day now that you’re not in school?
I’ll probably get a part-time job just to kind of distract myself from running for part of the day. I don’t want to be just thinking about the next run for seven, eight hours. I don’t think academics ever affected my running. I feel like it’s not going to be a big difference. I might have a little more extra time. Plus now I get to make money for it, which is pretty cool.

When you ran 28:03, did you feel like, “There’s a lot more there”?
Yeah. I definitely felt like I could have run in the 27:40s, just because we went out slow in that race. We went out in something like 14:11, and then came back in 13:52. So I think if it was a little more of an even pace, even at like 14:00, I could have gone faster.

What do you think is realistic for you at the trials in Eugene?
I feel like the race is pretty wide open. I feel like anyone could be representing the U.S. from that race.

Say you’re a mile into the trials race and it’s slower than the Olympic A standard of 27:50. Would you get up front and do something about it?
I guess I would have to. But I feel like there’s a couple of guys in there who don’t have the standard yet, so I’m sure they’ll be up there pushing the pace. Also, a guy like Abdi, who just ran 27:16, I don’t see why he would want a bunch of guys around late in the race. Even if he kept it a little bit honest, like going through in 13:55, I would imagine that’s like nothing for him. I would imagine that he would want to get rid of some guys early on, and then just race over the last 5K.

Matt, Jonathon Riley and University of Wisconsin runner Christian Wagner do an 8-mile rhythm run in the Arboretum. We should all look so relaxed at 5:15 pace.

Music by Buildings Breeding.
Monday: Drugs in running.

Chris and Matt try their best to explain the esoteric way of tracking training known as “Badger miles.”

Tomorrow: Teg shows just how easy 5:15 pace can look.

Matt and Chris get weekly massages from Brian Blindt, a former collegiate volleyball player who now does triathlons. Fun fact: When Sting played Madison, Brian was his massage therapist.