Falmouth Road Race

yeh where are the results? top american...??

Very limited as we're off to a BBQ and I found out how hard this race is ('specially after such a fast :) mile) so i didn't see much after the first two miles. started out fairly easy (easy for kenyans) with the leaders through the mile around 4.45, all the american contenders right there (abdi, graff, phil hanneck, shay, KP, etc). two miles was around low 9.30's for the leaders. wells and i had been mowing people down with a just under 5 first mile and around 4.50 second, then i found out why so few people run fast here. clint kept going to a solid 9th or 10th. Korir won, Paul Koech was second, James Koskei (last years winner) was 3rd, abdi was 6th and first yank, phil ran great to (i think) crack the top ten and pick up second US, graff was solid with 3rd US, i think shay was 4th or 5th US, KP was up in the top 8 US or so, as was donnelly, good showing for the NOP gentlemen. oh, and i think mahon was in the top ten as well. hope your wifey is willing to share the goodness TM, a single franklin leaves you a bit short of her haul :).

Now, on to the real race. how about Jen Rhines!!!! holy shnikes, she kicked everyones arse, won overall (and obviously first yank) so she picked up oh...about 17,500 very spendable dollars...and that's not counting any shoe bonus and all the picture bonuses that she'll get from all the publicity she'll get (and deserve). very impressive run, against a good field too. Colleen was second US and 3rd or 4th overall (another nice takehome), blake russell was top 5 US, can't remember the other ladies. however, the best female, i think, was the 11 yr old girl who passed us around 4mi, on her way to around a 40-41min finish. 11 freakin' years old, holy cow.

Oh, and to pre-empt anyone from narcing on me, yes, i did have three beers between miles 3-finish. had to let wells go at 2 & 1/4 and it was over then. some guy offered me a "beverage" and, while i actually am not that keen on beer, something cold never tasted so good. these mass people are great, every time my can went dry, there was another group with a cooler, offering up a replacement. poor sandu, we were running together and i offered him some but he mumbled something about losing his job and politely declined. oh well, that's the reg's for you, i guess. that's all for now, check the website for better results. oh, and i still haven't seen old man Malley yet, where the heck is he. i looked for a guy with a few extra on him but never found him :). hasta.

Cheers, Christian.

Thanks for the post, C.H.

Any more results? I may just be looking in the wrong places, but I thought I'd see some more detailed results by now.

Christian, did you run the race in those sweet boardshorts of yours?

Christian-

I ran the first four with the 11-year old you mentioned. Unbelievable! Some guy said to me just before the mile mark, "Hey, we can't let that girl beat us," and I'm like, "just wait a half mile." Well, not only did she maintain her position, she beat both of us! When I began to hurt around mile four, I made it my goal to stay up with her and get the fans excited by raising my arms, pumping fists, etc... which the Falmouth crowd was happy to oblige (what a great crowd... course was packed the last two miles).

Now for the best part, and I'm interested to hear everyone's take on this... she finished not far from Joan Benoit Samuelson. As we were all walking towards the water tables after the finish line, Joan stopped the little girl (and an older woman - I'm guessing her mother - who had her arm around the girl). They both seemed to know who Joan was. She gave the little girl a tongue lashing I will never forget.

"Great race, but you need to shut it down! I've seen to many girls like you race too much, too early and get burned out. Go out and play field hockey, soccer, and then go run easy. But no more road races! I don't want to see your name in any more road races for the next year. I'll do anything I can to help you, but please listen to me... shut it down. I don't mean to diminish (Do 11-year olds even know that word?) your performance, but take it easy!"

I think I added something like, "She's a gold medal winner, you know. She's right."

But then afterwards, I'm thinking, "Is she really?" I mean, God knows my emotions get away from me from time to time after races - especially hot, humid ones like today - but Joan really "lost it." Thank goodness the mother (or whomever) was around, otherwise, I might have been tempted to step between the two of them. So what say you letsrun masses? Genius or insanity from Joan?

"Great race, but you need to shut it down! I've seen to many girls like you race too much, too early and get burned out. Go out and play field hockey, soccer, and then go run easy. But no more road races! I don't want to see your name in any more road races for the next year. I'll do anything I can to help you, but please listen to me... shut it down. I don't mean to diminish (Do 11-year olds even know that word?) your performance, but take it easy!"

You recited that pretty word for word chief. You sure you remembered it as it was?

Oh yes, my friend. As good as if I had a tape recorder. Speeches like that tend to stick in the ole' noggin.

Joanie speaks the truth. It's a million to one shot that this girl, whoever she is, will continue to success if she's already racing this hard. Let's start a list of prepubertal success stories in girl's running who went on to have long and successful careers as women. Anybody?

I admire JBS for speaking her mind on the subject.

Joanie hit the nail on the head.

M D-S might qualify as she was the "precocious phenom" and had continued success for many years, albeit full of injuries, and later full of who knows what else. And then you might add, well, uhm, uh, .........mighty short indeed.

The 11-year-old you're referring to is Briana Jackucewicz. I can't verify anything Joan S. said because I wasn't there, but I do find it a little hard to believe she of all people would say such things to a child. Wether she said it or not, she definitely is correct. This girl has raced an average of about once a week for 6 years. Here's a post I made a while back concerning an article written about her:

CarolinaRunner wrote:

Check out the following article on the next of an endless stream of young superstars.

http://app.com/app2001/story/0,21133,657424,00.html

12-year-old, running for 6 years, has competed in OVER 400 races? Think about it. 52 weeks per year, 6 years. That's 312 weeks. 400 races in 312 weeks???? Sadly, something tells me we WON'T be hearing about her in HS or college. Makes me think of the Garritson's from California. If I recall correctly, one of them qualified for the '92 Olympic Trials in the marathon at age 12. She'd be about 23 now? Where is she?

So after 8 games of pool with gilmore (he finally figured it out after 5 and i can't come close to him after sweeping the first 5...time for me to hang up the stick) i'm going to bed, but not before checking the latest....so everyone is in an uproar about this kid?? I suppose if the dad is truly nuts then yes, it is a problem and the kid will struggle later but...how many african kids don't watch tv all day, don't eat mickey d's, don't (insert bad habit here)? what do these kids do? they're active as can be, doing things like...suprise, running. if it's true that she only runs 1-2mi between gallowalk breaks, that's great, it should help keep her healthy.

honestly, when she went by sandu & I at around 3&1/2 to 4mi, i said we should get back up there and pace her. it was hard enough to catch up to her that we gave up and resumed jogging! she's a stud, lets leave it at that. check on her in 4years and get back to me, i bet she's like ritz by then....

CH

Robin Campbell, Mary Decker

Briana kicked Joan's butt. Good for her.

Since Abdi did pretty good, I just have to throw this out. I was recently looking at American records and in the 10k Steve Prefontaine is still ranked 10th in 27:43.6. I am almost positive Abdi ran faster than that finishing behind Meb at the 2002 USATF. It is pretty pathetic Pre ran that back in 73 and he is still in the top 10, but Abdi needs to get the credit he deserves.

Oh yeah, Christian, you're lucky buddy. I saw that Bud in your hand and didn't get the picture because it made me thirsty and I reached for my own.

briana may have kicked her butt now,, but lets see what she's doing in rehab in a few years.