Where Your Dreams Become Reality
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Where Your Dreams Become Reality |
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Last Man in 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials, Jason Ryf Thankful
for Opportunity When Jason Ryf lined up for the 2003 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon last October it was his seventh time running the race, but this time was very different. Not only had he trained harder than he ever had before, but the 32 year-old full-time art teacher from Oshkosh, Wisc., had a new and lofty goal: to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon in Birmingham, Ala., on February 7, 2004, the race which will select the three man team which will represent the United States at the Athens Olympics next August. It was a longshot. His previous best time for a marathon was two hours and 27 minutes and 59 seconds, excellent for a recreational runner, but not elite. At Chicago he would need to run 2:22:00 or better to qualify for the Trials, a huge and improbable improvement for a runner who had been training his entire adult life and had never come close to that time. Without the benefit of elite status, he had a less than favorable starting position. "What I think happened was since it got so crowded in the beginning, lots of people jumped over the gates (holding back the slower runners)," recounted Ryf in a telephone interview from his home. "The gun went off and it took me ten seconds to get to the start line, and then it took me ten minutes trying to get past these slower runners." Energy management is critical for a marathoner, and Ryf was wasting a lot of it early in the race, zig-zagging through the slower runners, who often run in groups. Once he settled into his pace, he was able to pass through half-way in 1:10:46 --under his goal pace-- but soon his early efforts to make time began to take their toll. "I was on pace, and even a little bit under," said Ryf. "It just caught up to me at the end." Ryf finished the race in 2:22:24, just about one second per mile too slow. His "net" time, which adjusted for the time it took him to actually cross the starting line, was 2:22:15. At first he was pleased with a big improvement in his career best time. "To be honest, at first I was happy," said Ryf. "As the day went on I tried to console myself it was a PR (personal record)." But as the hours passed, the hurt of not making the Trials grew deeper. "The next day, on Monday, that was pretty brutal," Ryf recalled. "I couldn't lie to myself anymore. I was pretty devastated." Ryf was lucky to be in the race at all. In February, 2002 he was riding in the passenger seat of his car as he and his wife, Koran, were driving back from a shopping trip where he had just purchased a pair of running shoes. Without warning, another car smashed into his door, injuring him severely. "Some guy ran a red light and drove into the passenger door where I was. I just woke up in the hospital. I had internal bleeding, a pretty bad concussion, chipped up a couple of my teeth, and a fractured hip, which they didn't know for four months. I had a bunch of glass in my elbow, too." Ryf said his memory was also affected. After Chicago, Ryf had a new and completely different hurdle: the USA Track & Field Men's Long Distance Running Committee who set the rules for entry into the Olympic Trials Marathon. Ryf wrote a letter of appeal to the outgoing committee chairman, Danny Grimes, describing what happened in Chicago. Grimes, a former marathoner himself, was sympathetic. "I handled the request from Jason and agreed to grant his entry," said Grimes in an e-mail message. "I had long discussions about who should be allowed into the event via appeal. I agreed with the men's LDR executive committee that about ten seconds was reasonable with a bit of leeway one way or the other. With Jason's chip (net) time being just 15 seconds over, I granted the appeal. The reasoning: his time is close, the race will not be adversely effected by another entry, there are few people who are within 20 seconds of the standard, and that he will cost the organizers no money." Ryf enters the race, which will have about 100 entrants, in a unique position: he can only improve from being the last man. This has given him a simple goal. "To be honest, just not to be last," he said. "Technically, I've got the slowest time. I expect that will be the same on race day. Even if I beat one or two people that will be an improvement." For Ryf, to compete in the Olympic Trials Marathon is a great honor, especially for a part-time athlete who runs about 80 miles per week, well below the 120 or more racked up by the top professionals who will be in front of him. His only training partner is his Australian cattle dog, Turbo, who can only run two to four miles with him at a time. The Wisconsin winter doesn't make it any easier. "Like some people have said, the Trials are the Olympics for the regular guy," he summarized. "I put a lot of heart and soul into my running. This is the payoff for me."
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