Well, I am way behind on some of the topics I have wanted to write about over the last month. I have so much to choose from as both the RNC and the DNC have given me enough to roll my eyes about for the next two months. I'll get to election coverage in a few weeks, in short here is what I gathered from the conventions: both like hard work, Republicans like big money, Democrats like loud cheering and level playing fields, Republicans have a lot of white people in their audience, and Democrats aren't sold on God or something having to do with Jerusalem that I do not really understand. As always, I ask where is the viable independent candidate in the room?
It takes time to change a culture, but it is possible if you are willing to work for it.
This was the scene in many Americans' homes last month as Galen Rupp and Leo Manzano brought home silver medals at the London Olympics. I repeat. American distance runners medaled at the Olympics. Those two had me smiling for the course of three weeks--that is all I wanted to talk about with anyone. Americans out-kicking Africans is news worthy. Not "Sports Section" news worthy; it is "we interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast" news worthy. With a 400m to go in the 10,000m I say to my wife, "He (Rupp) can medal, he can medal!" With 100m to go: "He can win! OMFG!!!! Go. RUN! GO GO GO. COME ON, GALEN!!! AHHHHHH!!!!" Both of us screaming and jumping up and down, as he and his training partner Mo Farah of Great Britain go 1-2. I have been a fan of distance running since the Spring of 1999 the season of my first track and field campaign. Since that time I can't recall a moment where I was prouder to be an American distance runner. Rupp and Manzano put us back on the map. Then you see workouts like this, and you see that the culture itself is changing. There are coaches, athletes, and new media out there to promote the sport and put American distance running back where it belongs: as part of the larger sports discussion.
There is a part of "Once A Runner" where the protagonist Quenton Cassidy is talking about winning on the world's biggest stage and how everything has to go so right for it to happen. "You have to be so lucky after you are already so good." I am paraphrasing now (as two of my runners have borrowed my copies of the book), but he says it is like a parent saying their child is going to win an Oscar one day after they did so well in their 2nd grade play; Yeah, they just might, but it sounds kind of silly to even talk about, right? Just like a decade ago it was silly to talk about US distance running in the same breath as the Ethiopians or Kenyans. The term "Top American finisher" worked its way into the lexicon, and that is not what you want to hear ever.
Then the Big Three came along and the culture started changing...
It was December 2000 when Alan Webb, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Ryan Hall toed the line together at the Footlocker XC Championships. I was there as a high school junior and watched it happen. It felt different. They went 1-2-3; champions from their respective corners of the country. American born talents. Twelve years later, Webb has retired as the fastest American miler in history. Ritz finished 13th in the Olympic 10,000m (his third Olympiad), and while Hall DNF'd the marathon he is still the most consistent and fastest marathoner in the United States and takes the pace to the competition no matter what the race is.
It takes times to change a culture. It took time for the general public to fall out of love with track and field and it will take time for them to fall back in love with it. But Olympics like this certainly help. I still believe it is possible, and it might just take a distance runner on a Wheaties box to do it, but again these things take time. It takes time to convince the athletes you coach that they are as good as the dreams they have for themselves. It takes time for them to realize that they can be the best runner on their team, in their city, or in the state. As a coach it is nice to have distance runners bringing home Olympic-sized bling to the United States, that way I can tell my kids that it is absolutely possible to do if you are willing to work for it.
Well said!
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