I've now read the thread.
a) Being there I didn't think it was that awkward. The whole situation wasn't ideal but he was squatting down on the track I think changing shoes and I wanted to catch him before he left. The whole thing was less than two minutes. I don't have any rapport with Galen so it's going to be a bit awkward to begin with but that's not going to stop me from doing my job. My job is not to be buddy buddy with the athletes and the more I realize that the easier it is. I've been led to believe Galen isn't a fan of LetsRun, and that probably affects me more than it should, but that shouldn't matter, and I still have a job to do. I personally apologized to him in Scotland for some of the comments some of you all made on his online wedding page after we linked to it on letsrun but besides that have had no personal interaction with him.
b) The only awkward part for me was squatting down after he was talking to the USATF reporter and not wanting to act like I'm ambushing him. I asked a question, told him his record was broken, I thought he answered perfectly fine. I could have done a better job on my end of having a question about his record but was just looking for his impression.
As for Galen, throughout college I thought he didn't have the finishing speed to be a star and said as much but starting his senior year he sure proved me wrong. I was extremely, extremely impressed with his run Saturday. I told Alberto as much. He was really impressive. I've gone to enough meets that during the races I generally have an idea what's going to happen and I figured he wasn't going to get he record when he was behind pace and by himself.
I've heard I'm unfair to Solinsky's group, I've heard I'm unfair to the Alberto group, I had someone ask last week ask if I had a financial relationship with Nike. I think that's a good combination.
Generally speaking about fan perception of the "media" in track and field, I think some of this reaction and perception of bias by fans just shows how minor track and field is as a sport. Because track and field is so minor everything is supposed to be 100% positive and everyone is supposed to be buddy buddy. Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys lose a game and everything is 100% negative.
The farther I get removed from being an athlete the easier it is to be a "journalist". Tim Layden of SI and others have helped by pointing out my goal is not for the athletes to like me. He said you're doing your job when you can write a critical article about someone and then go in the lockerroom the next day and face them.
Back to this situation, I definitely wasn't trying to be sensationalist at all.