BU meets start this weekend

Bill, is this order of events the same as last year? Not sure if my memory is playing tricks on me, but I seem to recall that there was a bit more time between the 3000 and the mile last year. I remember all those Whirlaway guys would do both of them each meet.

And while I'm sure going to love the new track, part of me will miss the old Armory one (now down in DC, I believe). I ran all my high-school indoor meets on that track. Loved the dusty air, those dead spots on the track, etc.

i was a big fan of the old track. that thing had dead spots all over it and was in bad shape but i was impossible not to go big there. last year i dropped 34 seconds off my pr on that old track. i for one wish it was still around. the old track had something. it was that quality you could not describe. you got on it and you knew you would going to do something.

I think they may have placed the 3000 and the mile further apart, but I was just getting the schedule from BU. 3K-4-Mile-2-8 sounds like last years schedule though.

As for the old boards, they are still alive. Global Athletics bought them and are putting them up somewhere in the Metro Washington area. My good friend was the part-time carpenter at the Armory and Rich Kenah called him personally for suggestions on setting it up.

Additionally, BU was between a rock and hard place with the old track. Each year it became more and more difficult to put it together (last year there were a zillion shims), and while I think the regular dead spot (at about 160m) was quaint and cool, a few others started to develop too. Also, the meets took and eternity with 4 lanes. We will all miss the thumpa thumpa of the Armory (which by the way, was leveled -- wonder how many rats were displaced), but I assure you, the new track is unparalled anywhere in the U.S. It has 1500 real chairback seats, an adequate ventilation system (AC !) and still is wooden and has the same thump. None of that aluminum garbage like at Reggie or the NYC Armory.

the $10 fee gets you in two events

I object to word "garbage" in reference to the Reggie Lewis Center. That place when they get a couple thousand people in there. So what if they don't have chairbacks--barely any places do.

I hope you didn't take me that seriously. I think Reggie and the Armory are great facilities. I'm probably going to do the bulk of my indoor training at Reggie because B.U. is treating their track like Fort Knox. I was just playing on people's almost unconscious feeling for that old-style wooden sound that they remember from the old track. One of the specifics in the design for the new B.U. track was that it must be wooden.

Any results yet? Will Bruce/Peter post on Coolrunning?

Who is going to win the BU 3k, Ritz or Webb?

3000 was never in question. Some young guy with a "Utah" or "Arkansas" or some singlet like that ran away with it in 8:25. Eric Beauchesne and a couple others were over 20 seconds back.

Don't know who the guy was who won the fastest of the open miles, but he ran a great race. Sat back for the first half, moved up, then just took off with about 1.5 laps to go. I think he finished around 4:22 or so but I was paying attention to others in the race.

Craig Fram was there but was either taking it easy or coming off some kind of layoff as his times (like 9:10 for the 3000 and 4:37 for the mile, I think) were pedestrian compared to what he normally does. Last year he was part of the record setting 4 x 1600 team.

An extremely nice track. Unfortunately I screwed up my leg doing tempo on Thursday so I could not run. I'll do next week.

The 3000 winner was Nephi Tyler of Fairhaven Massachusetts. Nephi decided to go to University of Utah (there was article about him on mensracing -- he is the only Utah athlete from east of the Mississippi). That is why you saw him in the Utah uniform -- and he's pretty good too (like 3:48 1500). Of course, Dave Sullivan of Athletics East was all over him because Dave wants Nephi to run for his club after he graduates. Tyler should have higher goals, like Hanson's or something.

BillCarr wrote:

Of course, Dave Sullivan of Athletics East was all over him because Dave wants Nephi to run for his club after he graduates.

LOL! I saw that too. We had a good chuckle about it.