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NB Boston Indoor Grand Prix Preview - Alan Webb Re-Enters And "North American Dream Mile" Is On!

Premier Distance Matchups Set To Entertain Packed House

*New Balance Boston Indoor GP Website
*North American Dream Mile Talk

By Emory Mort, LetsRun.com
February 2, 2011

(Editor's Note/Warning: Emory Mort spends over half of his preview talking about life and running in general. If you are time constrained and want to read just his preview, click here).

Before I talk about what I'm excited to see at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston this weekend, I've got a little bit of a daily run-down. I've also got to say thanks to Mother Nature for giving my New England independent school our 7th snow day in the past 4 weeks and therefore giving me enough time to write this preview. Don't worry, we don't even have to make up for the lost days!

For starters, I can't think of a day when it's NOT appropriate to look at the photo to the left.

Was that performance (notice I don't even need to specify!) not one of the most inspiring things you've ever seen? I just got goosebumps, a legit full-body chill, and then almost started crying (more like a welling of tears) when I unexpectedly came across it when looking through the LRC photo archives for Boston-relevant shots. And it's a 9am on a Wednesday.

Following the photo, I've also got three recommendations:

The first recommendation might be thought of as a book. See, I don't just say, "It’s a book" because much of the book talks about how our mindfulness, creativity and joy suffer when we communicate with each other in unconditional facts. For example, I could say, "This weekend there is a track meet in Boston." This is an unconditional statement of assumed fact. Your mind kind of says, "This guy just told me in no uncertain terms that there is a track meet, it's in the city of Boston, it's inside, end of story."

To give an example of a more mind-expanding way to describe this weekend's meet, I could say there might be a collection of freakish and age-varied human organisms descending upon what may be a major US metropolis where lots of intellectuals live. These exotic freaks may or may not be running around in circles real fast or using what might be 15-foot bendy spears to launch themselves up in the air. This possible event might be shown on what could be called national television and may involve lots of other humans occasionally screaming, waving their appendages and flags around, and other things you might not see every day.

Which description is more likely to convince you to go to the meet with me?

If you're interested in such game-playing, which I'm sure you now are, I recommend Ellen J. Langer's  book "Mindfulness." I just broke into a smile thinking about her work; that's how much I recommend it.

"The Fall" - DO NOT DIE WITHOUT SEEING THIS FILM
Some people say we're all going to die someday. Assuming this will happen, I want everyone who's reading this to hear what I'm about to say. Before you die, see "The Fall." I watched it on Netflix, on my computer. Watch it and tell me the little girl actor is not the most splendid character you've ever seen. Be warned - there are not any big name American actors in the film. (Note: credit goes to my former teammate Joao for this recommendation)

Pre-Super Bowl Recommendation - Read NYTimes Piece On Polamalu's Spiritual Path
I'm not surprised to read that Troy Polamalu is a spiritual guy. After all, if God made a defensive player, he would be like Polamalu. Humble, ferocious competitor, creative to the extreme, unpredictable, fearless, joyous ... mmmmm I love me some Polamalu. This article turned my whole thought process around. You see, even my Terrible Towel and I need a lot of motivation to watch the Super Bowl. So much of it is mindless blabbering and stupid, ill-timed ad placements (If you can't tell, often I'm cynical about the rich, HGH-pumping NFL despite loving the action of the game).

But reading about Troy made me question my cynicism. It reminded me that there is so much potential depth to every human being, and to walk around with cynicism and negativity is just missing that truth.

Morning Message Board Run-Down
Just a minute or two of perusing the LetsRun message boards this morning was enough to find about 20 comment-worthy threads. I'll give some highlights.

Thread 1: Dogs or Children. Who are more annoying? - Dogs or Kids?
The beauty is that you don't even have to read this thread. The title alone fills any pre-existing humor void.

Thread 2: Self-coached runners - how do you go about planning your workouts when creating a training plan??? - looking for some advice.
Who knew Ryan Hall uses the message boards?

Thread 3: Chelsey Sveinsson sets sights on World Junior XC Championships - How intriguing.
Just like we love to follow the lives of child actors, I increasingly am interested in high school runners. I'm still upset that I didn't talk to 2:00 800m runner Ajee Wilson after she was soundly beaten by Lindsay Crevoiserat and Samantha Nadel in the girls mile at Millrose. In Boston, we'll see by far the best male high school runner in the country, Lukas Verzbicas, race against pros Alan Webb, Nick Willis and Leonel Manzano. I think Verzbicas could break 4. This alone makes the pro mile the most highly-anticipated event of the evening. Based on what I know about the contestants at this point, I see nothing that is even semi-likely to happen at the meet that would be more awesome than a HSer running a sub-4.

Seems to me the main reason these races are so exciting is the sheer unpredictability of the actions of the participants. For an idea of what I'm talking about, click here to see a photo of the top 3 at Millrose proudly flashing the "Oregon O" after their finish. If you go see the Blue Man Group, you're thrilled because you don't know what those crazy guys are going to do next. Same with these HSers. They're just as artistic as the pros, but they have a lack of restraint that leads to some truly great entertainment. I'm glad Rojo mentioned the men's 2-mile from Millrose, as was 100% on the money when he wrote in this week's "Week That Was": Once Rupp pulled out, even though it was just days before the event took place, the race should have been immediately cancelled. End of story. Yes, instead we sat and watched a rabbited 8:48 2-mile that was a blowout after something like 12 laps (of 22).

One of the reasons track has fallen so far in popularity is simply that the “pros” often fail to entertain. On the other hand, HSers, despite their times being slower, rarely fail to entertain. There is this obsession with the pros running World Records. We ruin race intrigue with rabbits because of the assumption that a faster race will mean a more popular race. If you, the meet director, get extremely lucky and someone runs a WR, then your meet will get press all over the world, but really even those rare moments are short-lived attention-grabbers. The pro sport is probably in peril because the "masters of ceremony" (from directors to agents to athletes) assume they need to be so dull and serious. I know that I fell into these assumptions as an athlete. Athletes like Usain Bolt drive us wild because they're the antithesis of dull and serious ... and lo and behold, they're amazing!

Despite pro track and field suffering from dullness and lack of creativity, HS running is hugely popular in terms of participants. The pro scene needs to become less stuffy, more interactive and more creative. Throw the lid off the box and think outside it. Just go to a HS track meet, look at what the crowd loves, and do more of that with the pros.

Thread 4: GRAND CANYON: which is better, the North rim or the South rim? - traveler of sorts.
What will we see in 50 years on virtual iPhone73-compatible message boards? I have visions. "Moon: which is better, the bright side or the dark side?" being one.

Thread 5: I want the emaciated look...is that a bad thing? - The Machinist.
I personally spent a lot of energy going for the emaciated look. I would recommend detaching from the need to be emaciated. I've "tried" and I've seen many runners "try" to be emaciated. It doesn't work to "try." I had a great friend at Cornell who was emaciated. Notice I didn't say "tried to be emaciated." He "was emaciated." He literally embodied what it means to be emaciated, just like he embodied, fully and wholeheartedly, being a distance runner. I'm not saying this is "healthy" or "unhealthy." It’s simply what "was." And most people who "try" to be emaciated would not believe how many routes there are to true emaciation (I wanted to write "emancipation" instead of emaciation, which might have been a fun typo). Until you're fully committed to being a fast distance runner (like Wejo in his prime, pictured left), to the depth of your soul, and all that this entails, then you shouldn't bother "trying to be emaciated."

As David Mamet writes in True and False, "The best advice one can give to an aspiring artist is 'Have something to fall back on.' The merit of the instruction is this: those who adopt it spare themselves the rigor of artistic life." Like artists, the best runners are those who have nothing to fall back on. They literally are "runners" through and through. HSers have little trouble giving their all to running because they're not very much worried about the future or protecting their investments. As you get older (even in college), you quickly recognize that to be fully committed to running is insane on so many levels because you're spending all your time focused on running - something where it's quite hard to make money that you could much more easily make doing something non-artistic. To become emaciated and be a fast runner, you have to simply accept all the insanity that you should know you're getting yourself into. As Mamet goes on to say regarding artists (and therefore athletes): "Those with 'something to fall back on' inevitably do." Unless you're truly interested in finding out what it's like to go off the deep end, enjoy a solid weekly paycheck and run more as a hobby.

Thread 6: Teg trolls LRC - whatwhat.

From the OP "whatwhat":

Teg
From his twitter:
#usaxc this weekend!! It's been 5 years since I have run an #xc race....should be interesting.
Not sure what coach is thinking since everyone knows I only run 5k; and we all know I don't run 10k...so how am I going to run 12k?

While I'm thrilled to hear he's running USATF XC, Teg is forgetting something in this tweet. I saw him race exhibition XC in Mad-Town Wisconsin in 2009 against former Badger alums Simon Bairu, Chris Solinsky and Evan Jager (see photo, right). They were all a bit groggy from the Solinsky bachelor party held the night (and morning) before. If you haven’t seen Teg, Solinsky and company up close, you might not realize what specimens they are (despite being out of season, running on probably 4 hours' sleep, and totally non-competitive). I had just watched some of the best collegians in the country race, and these 4 give an instant impression that went something like this: "Those guys are not even the same animals as the ones I just watched in the college race." (meaning: they're upon a second’s glance more balanced, relaxed, strong and generally impressive in pretty much every way I can think of)

Teg's addition to USATF XC is fantastic and I will just go ahead right here and pick him for the win in an easy kick finish over probably Abdi. Also, I should remind everyone (I just had to look it up to be sure, which is kind of funny) that Teg is a 12:58 guy. I remember watching Ritz's thrilling 12:56 live, what, 18 months ago (?) and all of a sudden I can't even remember off the top of my head how many active sub-13:00 Americans we have, and that's not even counting Rupp and Webb, whom most of us assume will be entering that stratosphere any day now.

Thread 7: New USATF CEO - my thoughts on dis
It didn't take long to find an amazingly insightful take on this situation. The author of the post I'm going to quote seems to be mindful of his/her own genius because his/her handle is "Smartest Lets Run Poster." Here's what he/she wrote:

That would be the worst job ever. The board is entrenched with a bunch of stubborn idiots. Doomed to fail from the beginning.

Check please!

And my personal favorite
Thread 8: WSJ.com Article on People Running So Much They're Ruining Their Marriages - wejo
I took a look inside this thread and it does not disappoint.

Enough Boards, On To Boston. My Top 5 Most Anticipated Events ...

After the long, late-night affair in NYC last friday, this Saturday's meet sponsored by New Balance in Boston is scheduled to be a brief 2-hour affair. This makes me happy. The field is very distance-heavy, with four mile races, a pair of 3,000s and a women's 800.

#1: Alan Webb, Leo Manzano, Nick Willis and Lukas Verzbicas in the pro mile - can the HSer run sub-4?
After pulling out of the meet due to some sort of ailment earlier in the week, LetsRun.com has learned that Alan Webb is back in the Boston race. This is huge as this race may be the first glimpse of how we can truly expect him to perform under new coach Alberto Salazar. Webb's latest performance was a 13:36 Turkey Trot 5k win over Galen Rupp, who will be going for the American 10,000 record later this month, so we're assuming Webb's in good shape.

The man to beat in the men's mile is Olympic silver medalist Nick Willis. Willis, who has been training in Albuquerque at altitude, is gearing up for the indoor season in a serious way. As this article from the New Zealand Herald points out, Willis is trying to run a 1,500m  A-qualifier for Worlds by Feb. 26 back in NZ, which means he should be in near 3:50 shape in the near future. He won in Boston last year (photo, right) in 3:55 over, among others, this year's late entrant Leonel Manzano.

Willis' stint in Albuquerque has been his first go at altitude training. He'll also soon get his first go at holding his very own Olympic silver medal in February when he is scheduled to be awarded the coveted chunk back in New Zealand.


The top miler in the bunch last year was Leo Manzano who earned a Track and Field News US #1 ranking, and ran 3:32.37 pushing Olympic champ Asbel Kiprop to the line in two different races. The fact Manzano has not raced in 2011 and was a late entrant meant to replace Webb probably means he is not race sharp.
Leonel Manzano.

NB Boston Men’s Mile Field
1. Nick Willis NZL
2. Alan Webb USA
3. Will Leer USA
4. Leonel Manzano USA
5. Rob Myers USA
6. Nate Brannen CAN
7. Garrett Heath USA
8. Russell Brown USA
9. Colin McCourt GBR
10. Henok Legesse ETH
11. Lukas Verzbicas USA
12. Pablo Solares MEX
13. Kyle Miller USA
14. Christian Hesch USA

Joining the pros is high school distance running phenom Lukas Verzbicas (photo of him strolling away from competitors at Foot Lockers, left). I like this move by organizers. Verzbicas will have the best shot at a sub-4 in the pro race. I don't even care what Verzbicas' exact PRs are, I believe in this kid and I believe he'll take a shot at 4:00. It will be interesting to see what his splits are and how he approaches a race that could very well be won in the 3:52 range. Also, will he be flashing any Oregon "O"s for the camera? How will he celebrate a sub-4 or even something like a 4:01? Verzbicas is accustomed to having a lot of attention (he was just handed the Gatorade National Runner of The Year award in front of his entire school by none other than Webb), so it will be interesting to see what he has up his sleeve in terms of antics and in terms of performance.

This race alone is worth the price of admission. Three North American based milers with PRs at 3:32 or better (Willis, Webb and Manzano), two more at 3:34 (Myers and Brannen), and a high school phenom.

#2: Euro hero Farah faces 12:53-running Gebremeskel at 3,000
On the face of it, this race might not be that exciting to US fans. But that's why we're here: to let you know that this could be a super race up front. Mo Farah, a prolific competitor who runs all sorts of distances on all sorts of surfaces, set the UK 5,000m record last year at 12:57. Dejene Gebremeskel ran 12:53 last year in Stockholm, where he split 7:45 for the first 3,000. Not to be outdone, Farah has his own 7:40 3,000 performance and a number of nail-biting wins from last year to draw confidence from.

Now 27, Farah has built some pretty legit status in the UK after his exploits at the Commonwealth Games last year where he won the 5,000/10,000 double in simply scintillating fashion. Farah, fresh off of his win in Edinburgh XC over Galen Rupp and others (photo, right), loves to race, he does it a lot, and he likes championship meets. We need more runners like him! This matchup with recently-turned-21 Gebremeskel will be another test of Farah’s seemingly ever-increasing competitiveness.

Other interesting competitors include Nixon Chepseba, who has a 2:18 1k and 3:32 1,500 to his just-turned-20-year-old name but little experience over 1,500, 8:13 American steeplechaser Daniel Huling (think of 8:13 in the steeple as roughly equivalent to an 8:13 2-mile (I just felt like Larry Rawson explaining that, but I feel like a lot of readers might not really know how to convert steeple times)), multi-time NCAA champ Sam Chelanga, 7:43 guy Josphat Boit, and even a little D2 flavor thanks to former Adams State standout Aaron Braun (7:51 PR).

It will be very interesting to see how Chelanga, who is hoping to get his US citizenship in the future, stacks up against the pros in this race even if 3,000 is a little short for him.

#3 The phenom that is Kalkedan Gezahegne (left) against the phenom that is Jenny Simpson in the women's 3,000
Only 19, Kalkedan Gezahegne is nonetheless the reigning world indoor 1,500 gold medalist. She also set the World Junior Record at 1,500 last year at 4:03. Last year, she ran the 2nd-fastest indoor mile in the world at 4:24. Ladies and gentlemen, KG is the fastest indoor miler in the world until proven otherwise, but can she beat Jenny Simpson (Barringer) with her 8:42 PR set at NCAA indoors in Arkansas? For all her success at 1,500, Gezahegne's 3,000 PR is only 4 seconds better (8:38) than Simpson's. Former NCAA queen Sally Kipyego and mid-distance specialist Sara Hall will probably go off as the 3rd and 4th favorites.

#4: Uceny, Vessey, Wright and Thomas - Someone's Cracking 2:00 in the 800
Recent NCAA grads Phoebe Wright (2:00 already this season) and Latavia Thomas will face more experienced pros Morgan Uceny and Maggie Vessey over 800m. Vessey is a total wild card, Uceny is seemingly always fit, and Wright and Thomas had some epic battles in college, including Wright's heart-wrenching Penn Relays heroics from 2010, where she held off Thomas to lead the Vols to a mid-d relay sweep.

I think it will be fun to pick this race. 1. Uceny 2. Wright 3. Heather Dorniden 4. Thomas 5. Vessey

#5: Boys and Girls HS Mile Races - Team Component Added
Lindsay Crevoiserat (Glastonbury, CT) and Matt Jablonski (MD) will return to the nationally televised track scene after their 2nd-place showings last week at Millrose. Each runner will face strong fields and the races will actually be scored in a team fashion (New England vs. the Visitors).

Other Events: Women's Mile, Men's 600 with Batman, Men's 300, Short Sprints, Hurdles and Jenn Suhr in the Pole Vault (More info and tickets can be found here)

A Look Back: Reebok BIG 2010
To add context to this year's meet, here’s what happened last year: (courtesy of New Balance Boston Indoor Grand Prix meet website). The biggest news was Lagat and Rupp going under Rupp's old AR (photo, right) while Nick Willis won in his return from injury. We guess that was the theme for 2010 for Rupp - breaking the old AR but not getting the record as another American beat him in the very same race.

"Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba returned to BIG for the first time since winning two Olympic gold medals in Beijing, winning the women's 5,000m over former Texas Tech great Sally Kipyego. Jamaican mid-distance star Kenia Sinclair set a new Jamaican record with her win in the 1,000m, while Olympic silver medalist Nick Willis won the mile for the second straight year. Emily Lipari broke the meet record in the Girls' Invitational Mile, winning by over three seconds, while multiple medalist Terrence Trammell lowered his own meet record in the Men's 60m Hurdles. But the highlight of the night was in the Men's 5,000m, being contested for the first time at BIG, in which both Bernard Lagat and Galen Rupp bettered Rupp's American Record, with Lagat coming out as the new record holder in a time of 13:11.50."

Here is an LRC photo replay of Boston Indoor 2010 courtesy of our archives.

*New Balance Boston Indoor GP Website

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