|
|
FLRC Newsletter - June 2004 |
| IUTC Meets Billy Mills | |
Ithaca United's youth 5K team traveled to Allentown, PA, the weekend of April 25th to run in the Runners World 5K and rub shoulders with Billy Mills, the only U.S. athlete ever to win an Olympic gold for the 10,000 meters in the Olympics. IUTC's Andris Goncarovs, Doug Moore, Chris Van Loon, and Alex Salton made the trip to eat pasta with Mr. Mills, listen to a rousing speech on changing perceptions and self-empowerment, see the 2,500 half marathon runners off, and then run the 5K with 270 others through the streets and parks of the former coal and steel town.
The 5K starts off with a mile-long downhill, and then is mostly flat though residential and park streets. It ends in an immaculate and majestic-enough high school stadium. We got to see Billy Mills at the start line, waving to us all, wishing us well. Andris led the race for the first mile, planning to do that ahead of time to see what it "would feel like." His bright yellow shorts matched the double yellow line that he centered on, as we all looked on from the race xbody. The first pack of older 30- and 40-somethings closed the gap by mile one and finally shook Andris loose in the park. Chris Van Loon and Alex Salton took the start a little slower per coach's orders. Doug Moore and Coach G. motored along at a 6:30 pace for the first mile. From what I could see, Andris held onto fifth place for some time, and at the last double "z" back at the end of the park loop, where a pack of four late bloomers rallied and followed him closely, finally passing him in the stadium. There was a bank of speakers at the entrance of the stadium, perched on top of a NASCAR-looking trailer. Inside there was an announcer calling the play by play. When Andris entered the Stadium by "The Wall," as they called it, which was predicated by a very short steep rise before coming to track level, the announcer blared out "and here's 'a little guy.'" I guess his eloquence and announcing prowess skipped a beat here, because he didn't know what to say after he heard himself say "little guy."
The announcer made it exciting, though—and loud—as runners entered the stadium for the 300-meter loop to the finish. When he could see the runner's number or name on the bib tag, he would shout encouraging words. When the first place runner for the Half Marathon entered the stadium some 40 minutes later, the announcer, with exciting music playing in the background, lauded the virtues of Jamie Hibell, who was leading that race by several minutes. It got so intense that if Jamie had actually heard the accolades he would have turned redder than the rubberized crimson track, which was—well—really red. You would have thought the Pope was about to appear, with the build up he got. The crowd was caught up in laughter at how the announcer was so caught up in his excitement for Jamie and his great performance. At any rate, when Jamie did appear, the crowd was ready, clapping and cheering, it was just like the Olympics—or so we all thought. The kids from IUTC met Jamie on our way out of the stadium an hour later. We landed a photo op and chatted. Turns out he is just a regular guy who likes to run, been running since he was a kid, was the first American at the Boston Marathon, and was shy, as many runners are. We bumped into him in a far corner of the stadium far away from the crowds while he was catching up with his sweetie. He took the time to talk with each of our kids. That was worth more than I can ever put into words.
Back in the park during the 5K, Coach and Dougie
Moore(11) were dueling, seesawing back and forth for position for second
IUTC runner of the day. Doug made three valiant surges at miles 1, 1.5,
and 2. Each time Coach rallied and put a little distance ahead of the up
and comer. Doug made one last try at mile three, but wily old Coach had
saved enough gas for the 300, and kept some space. Doug's dad Clayton
swooped in 2 minutes later, quickly followed by Chris Van Loon (age 8) at
25:08. That's not a PR but very very close! Chris's race was very steady
all the way to the finish. He kept Clayton in sight the whole way. More
fuel the night before Chris, right? At 28:26 Alex Salton came in,
knocking off 50 seconds from his Great Heron 5K time the week
before. Good work, Alex! In a month Alex will be slicing more time off, I
predict. It was Alex's 2nd 5K ever.
| Place | Div/Tot | Gen/Tot | Name | Age G Bib | City | St | Chiptime | Guntime | Pace |
| 9 | 1/17 | 8/122 | Andris Goncarovs | 12 M 89 | Trumansburg | NY | 18:42 | 18:42 | 6:01 |
| 32 | 7/15 | 27/122 | Andri Goncarovs | 43 M 90 | Trumansburg | NY | 22:08 | 22:08 | 7:08 |
| 35 | 5/17 | 29/122 | Douglas Moore | 11 M 303 | Ithaca | NY | 22:39 | 22:40 | 7:18 |
| 61 | 4/9 | 46/122 | Clayton Moore | 59 M 304 | Ithaca | NY | 24:21 | 24:24 | 7:52 |
| 71 | 6/17 | 51/122 | Christopher Van Loon | 8 M 258 | Ithaca | NY | 25:08 | 25:11 | 8:07 |
| 150 | 12/17 | 90/122 | Alex Salton | 11 M 307 | Ithaca | NY | 28:24 | 28:28 | 9:10 |
The awards were a little anticlimactic, as the awards announcer had to speak between the phrases of the half-marathon announcer of previous description. You had the feeling that they wanted to get the 5K runners off and out of the way, it was a little like a competing battle of the bands in a summer park festival with two bands playing at once. To his credit, Billy Mills took the time to shake age group winners hands and meet them in the eye. The other downer was the lack of a race clock for the 5K—it was discouraging to look up and see your time 37:08 for a 5k—WHAT?!? I almost never remember to look at my watch in a race. A guy, about my age, slapped me on the back as we crossed the finish line near each other, and was happy that we "broke" 40! It was his first 5K. I told him I had really good news for him. Runners are resilient, and we got over the clock and fast awards and moved on.
The food was great. Mrs T's pierogies in minestrone soup was there, veggie and turkey wraps, puffy chocolate chip cookies, oranges, and drinks. IUTC and company walked back to the hotel through the back streets of A-town. There we saw kids playing in the street, old cemeteries (from 1812, but well kept), the first arrivals of the Trinity United Church of Christ being greeted by their minister, each—and I mean each—member received a long hug, well-dressed older ladies out for walks, stopping to pick up litter on the street. One walked with us for a while. You really felt community here.
Back at the hotel the kids bumped into Billy Mills again and chatted for a bit. We offered him a ride back to Ithaca, but he declined. I have to say, Mills is truly genuine, and isn't afraid to be himself, at the podium or in the lobby. I only wish we had more time to just sit and talk. Mills joked that he would not want to have to run a race against our kids, and was impressed with how our four conducted themselves in and after the race.
On our way back to Ithaca, we stopped at the Lackawana Anthracite Coal mine in Scranton. Down we went—coal cart, helmet, 250 feet vertical, and all—into the deep recesses of one of the most famous anthracite coal mines in the east. We learned from a former miner about the conditions for coal miners and how coal was mined for 140 years until 1966, when the mine was closed. Our 8–12-year-olds were a little stunned to hear that many of the workers were the same age as they are now and had been working in the damp, musty, dim-lit mines for five years already, in some cases.
Full results can be found at http://www.runnersworld.com/halfmarathon/design/results/2004/5K_complete.txt.
| Prev Article | Front Page | Next Article |