Your claim to fame

Here are a couple "right place at the right time deals"

1984 OT: I had breakfast with Sydney Maree and a young John Marshall. If you will recall, Marshall has just surprised many by making the 800m OT (crazy race). My coach at the time had grown up in South Africa, and was assisting Mareee get US citizenship for the LA Games. Later that same day I ran the Jr 10k, and then watched Spivey, Scott, and Maree get the 1500 spots (just ahead of Chuck Aragon).

1991? or 1992? It was just prior to the WCC champs in Boston (That Ngugi romped). I had met Skah earlier the same day while selling shoes at Hoy's Sports. Later that night I was finishing up a session of about 10-12 x 400m in roughly 64-65 seconds...Skah was warming up on the track (Kezar) and says "hi" as I complete the workout. Skah said "you look good, but need to do these much faster"...I then watched him run a similar tuneup for the Boston World XC champs (much like the w/o Clay mentioned)...he ran 10 x 400 in 59/60 with 60 seconds rest, then rested a couple minutes and ran another 4-5 in 55-56 with the same recovery..

1995: A friend set me up to see Ron Clark in London. I met Clark at a place called "Cannons"...Clark was managing the fitness club...I went out a ran about 45 EZ minutes with Clark, and ask him about his career. He told me some great stories of various WR's, and then took me back to the club and checked out his 3 mile WR at Crystal Palace on video...

Mike

One more "right place deals"

1997: I was able to attend all 7 distance WR's in 15 days...Zurich had the 1st 3 records (7:58 steeple WR by Kipkiter, 800 WR by the other Kipkiter/1:41, and the 5000 by Geb over both Tergat and Komen)...I checked out the next meet in Monaco, but no records (although I did see Kennedy run a nice 3k, and Holman ran well in the 1500m)...I then paid about $50 US dollars for a ticket to Brussels (Komen took back the 5k/12:39, Geb missed at the 3k attempt, then Tergat took the 10k/26:29...Geb lost 2 WR''s that night)...then I spent about $6 (Geramny) for a ticket to watch Barmasai grab the steeple WR, and Kipkiter break his own 800 WR)...

awesome trip....

claim to pseudo-fame: i was the 1994 junior national champ in the steeple (hence the name), although the unusual part is that i was probably the only kid there that was self-coached... that and the fact that the drug testers pumped me full of assorted flavors of gatorade for about two hours after the race before i could give a urine sample (summer in tallahassee)-- my piss was so bright yellow that i thought for sure i would be busted for SOMETHING...

Being one of the organisers of a local marathon, I got to take Roger Bannister out for dinner to a Far East restaurant. There were only three of us at the table. Finding out that I coach (I swear I would never have dared never mention it and have no idea how he learned of it), this great man; British knight, world-renowned surgeon, and first human under 4.00 for the mile turned to me and asked me my thoughts on 1500m training for my young runners.

The great thing? He LISTENED to what I had to say while I was doing my best not to sound like an ass and change the subject as quickly as possible.

For the same reason, I also got to take Emil Zatopek and his wife out to dinner and hear all his stories long before Sandrock's book.

A great human being. To this day I am convinced God created Zatopek just to see if he could.

Last Thanksgiving I was at a little local 8k road race and after I ran I met 193? Olympic Steeplechase Champion Horace Ashenfelter. I talked with him for a while and he was like one of the nicest guys that I ever met. He was much more interested in hearing about my running experiences than telling about his own. He signed my race number before I left.

Every Memorial Day in my town there is a big 5k/10k road race that also features an elite mile race. A few weekends before the race, I was out running in the pouring rain and I pass this car that is obviously lost. They roll down the window and inside is 3 Kenyan runners and their coach. The coach tells me that they will be running the race in town and ask if I will show them the course. They get out and we run to the start and I run over the course with them. One is Stephen Ondieki, former NCAA XC star at Fairleigh Dickinson and another is Patrick Nthiwa, now one of the hottest young runners on the road racing circuit. Two weeks later at the race, I ran the 10k, winning the age group. As I was waiting in line at the table to collect the awards, I saw Ondieki and he recognized me and thanked me for showing the course. Everytime I see him at one of the races now we stop and say high. I then ran my cooldown with him. Then the 5k came and Nthiwa smashed the 5k course record with a 13.54 . He saw me after the race and thanked me for showing the course. After the 5k, there was a break for an hour or so before the elite mile race. My friend and I were walking around to the sponsor tents. We stopped at the New Balance tent and tried on some shoes because if you tried on the shoes they gave you a pair of socks. One of the men sitting at the table was an older black man. His name tag said Henry Rono. My friend and I sat and talked with Mr. Rono for a while. He was very interested in hearing about our XC and track seasons. Before we left to watch the mile races, I got his autograph. As I was standing on the sidewalk waiting to watch the mile races (first was the elite and then the masters) someone hops out of the BMW Z3 pace car. He takes off his sunglasses and I recognize that he is Mike Myktok, 2000 Olympic Trials qualifier and national class road racer. He asks if I would like to ride in the pace car and help radio back to the finish announcer the leaders and the splits. I did. The mile was won in 4.17 . Next was the masters mile, which was won by Marcus O'Sullivan, Villanova Coach and former world class miler, in 4.19 . As my friend and I were walking home from the race, the parents of one of the runners on our XC team stopped us and introduced us to Mr. O'Sullivan. They knew him because they went to Villanova. We talked with Mr. O'Sullivan for a while and got his autograph.

There's my claim to fame.

Hadd -

Your thought on Zatopek has me re-thinking the greatest running quote I have ever heard. Captures his spirit quite well.

In 1992 I was running in the Revco 10k in Cleveland which happened to be during a Cavs/Bulls playoff series. The race put us up in the Ritz Carleton and I was heading up the elevator with my high school coach who I was letting share my room and the doors open up and Bill Cartwright steps on. We get to my floor and walk through a open area with a huge buffet and some more of the Bulls hanging around. Still it was no big deal-I've seen a few celebrity types in airports(Jesse Jackson, Hulk Hogan, Dick Vitale, Jose Canseco, James Worthy) and it wasn't like I was a 9 year old kid. I start to open my room and the door directly across from me opens and I turn and it was Jordan but that moment I have to admit I got a little spaced out. He's probably seen that reaction a million times and had a little smirk on his face but I didn't think of anything to say to him so I just nodded and got in my room as quick as I could so I didn't risk looking more like a complete idiot than I was already.

Well, the art teacher at my HS is none other that Alan Culpepper's aunt. Living in a small Texas town, I also quickly got to know her husband (alan's uncle). One day I gathered the nerve and asked the art teacher if she could get me Alan's autograph. She said that it would be know probably and she would call Alan that evening. A few weeks passed and Alan's uncle came by the local grocery store where I worked and brought me an a large envolope. I looked at the return address and saw . . .

Culpepper

### Street Name

City Name, State

Zip Code

(keeping the address confidential)

I quickly opened it and pulled out the 8x10 autographed picture of Alan Culpepper followed by Meb and Tim Broe (i think). A few weeks later the art teacher told me that neither them or Alan's parents had an autographed picture of Alan as nice as the one I had. She asked if she could borrow the picture and make copies of it onto photo paper. I readily let her. So . . . Alan's parents have a photo copy of MY autographed picture of Alan in their home.

I have done workouts with a 1:54 (800m) runner like 8x1000m w/3min rest

and workouts with a 1:50 point 800m runner

and I keep up to them, beating them sometimes, mind you they are distance-workouts.... not bad considering I've only run a 2:06

also placing a close 2nd to an 8:46 (national champion steeplechase u/17 also) 3k runner in various xc races, last season while experienceing breakthrough

Mark Croghan came to speak at a local running store then afterwards he and about 30-40 of us ran with him for about 4 miles.

Alan

My claim to fame is having my picture on letsrun.com's 2002 usatfs pick page. That and having Meb point to me and say "it's like he said, it's nice to see such a fast time win a US championship." (this was after I did his drug testing escorting). Also, I passed (at 2 miles), and proceeded to beat, Alan Webb at the 2001 Boilermaker. He was jogging.... And lining up right behind Dathan on the line of the AOC 4 by mile.

At the 1996 Olympic Trials, I was watching the second day of the decathlon and found myself sitting next to a heptathlete who had already competed. We had a nice conversation, and I remember specifically talking about a proposal to change the heptathlon and what she thought about learning how to vault. She thought it would be "kinda neat".

When I watched the paralympic (Sp?) games a couple of months later, I recognized the lady I'd been conversing with as Marla Runyan. I had no clue that her vision was impaired. As impressive as Marla has turned out to be as a distance runner in her "second career", I remain even more impressed by someone who was legally blind who thought that learning how to pole vault would be "kinda neat".

And my second brush with fame was as the second clinic speaker with Arthur Lydiard at one of his stops on his recent American tour. Had a nice conversation with the greatest coach of all time; he even had nice things to say about my talk! An honor I'll always remember.

Couple more claims to fame for me.

From 1988-1990 I worked as a sports reporter for the Columbus Dispatch in Columbus, OH. Mostly I covered high school sports (and not track or cross country for some reason), but since no one on staff knew much about running, I would get to interview the runners from time to time. Best interviews - Mark Plaatjes just prior to winning the 1988 Columbus Marathon in 2:12 and Ohio State's own Butch Reynolds. Both were cordial and very professional.

I spit on Elana Meyer in a race once...purely by accident and I did apologize.

my claim to fame is beating spence at an all-comers 2-mile cross country meet a couple of summers ago in chambersburg, pa. another ship alum won the race followed by myself in second and spence in third. since then he's clobbered me in several races and workouts. he also taught me how to piss while running which has proven to be a very useful talent when very hydrated.

It's the early 1980s, I'm just out of college, and working my first job in Philadelphia suburb Woodbury, N.J. There's a little running shop across the street from where I work and I go over there a few times a week to pick up race forms, buy gear, and talk running with the nice little guy working behind the counter.

Didn't get his name, but he was always interested in hearing how I did in the latest local 10K or how my training was going. About a year after I started, I saw in the paper a picture of the guy. Hmmm - wonder why his picture is in the paper? Turns out there was a huge banquet to honor Browning Ross, Olympic steeplechaser, founder of the Road Runners Club of America and owner of Sports East running store.

Yes, I had been blabbering to this guy for a year about my stupid little running career and he was so humble he never mentioned his little trip to the Olympics.

A wonderful guy.

Hey Stepay - You said nobody at the Dispatch knew much about running, but Steve Blackledge has run a few marathons and I know has covered the Olympic T&F Trials at least two or three times.

back in 2000 at the Bloomsday 12K in Spokane, WA I spent about 30-40 minutes with Ronaldo Da Costa and Armando Quintanilla as we literally devoured all of the food at the Double Tree Hotel post-race party.

both Ronaldo and Armando are cool cats. i also got to brush up on some of my spanish! (they don't speak english too fluently:)

Ryan