It’s a
well-known fact at this point that I’m a running nerd. So naturally, when I
heard that Kyle Merber and the lesser-known Brendan Barrett were holding a race
on Long Island, a short drive from my new residence in New York, I was already
scheduling the trip months in advance. Before last night, I had only seen one
sub 4 mile in person during my entire watching running career (earlier this
year at the Armory when Pablo Solares did it). Now I have seen a grand total of
eight.
The
appeal of these types of races is the proximity the fans have to the athletes.
And the event certainly fulfilled that potential. On the drive in, I shouted at
a car full of people (that didn’t really care) that Kerri Gallagher was warming
up on the road alongside us. As I waited for my girlfriend to park, essentially
the entire men’s mile field emerged from inside St. Anthony’s school and
started their warm up just a few feet away from where I stood paralyzed on the
phone.
A few
community races were finishing up on the track as we arrived. I got a noisemaker
at the front door from a Hoka employee with an accent I couldn’t recognize. After
a brief attempt to watch from the stands, we trekked around the outer lanes of
the track to the 200m mark, our best hope at a good view of the race as the home
stretch was rapidly filling.
A few
top runners did stride right by us, including Jack Bolas like six different
times. He has the same spikes as my friend Josh, a fact I never would have
learned watching a live stream or sitting in the stands. When Kyle Merber first
entered the track, he got a flurry of well-deserved cheers as the local hero.
When Peter Callahan entered the track, I was the only one that cheered. I felt
pretty proud because 1) he heard me and 2) he looked at me and I got the chance
to give the bewildered Princeton grad a thumbs up.
First,
the women raced with Rachel Schneider toeing the field through quickly and
leaving a gap to the pack. She dropped out right in front of us at 1k and we
were amazed by un-tired she was, easily speaking to us about her surprise the
pack didn’t go with her. The race developed into a three woman pack headed into
the final bend with World Championship qualifier Kerri Gallagher continuing her
impressive year at the front. Heather Kampf looked poised to challenge heading
into the home stretch, but Gallagher answered her move. Meanwhile, just behind,
Brooks’ Amanda Eccleston was sitting in third, looking poised to strike. From
the other side of the track, I was pointing and shouting Brooks girls got this
with 100m-75m to go. But it wasn’t easy. Gallagher fought the whole way,
answering the surges, before Eccleston finally burst away over the final 30 or
so to take the victory by a nose in 4:29.99.
After
watching the run, we placed bets on how fast the men’s race would be. I put the
over under at 3:58.00 and we got two overs and one exactly 3:58 bet in our first
three guesses. It was a fairly humid day even though the weather was cool by 9
o’clock for race time. The build up to the race had billed it as not only an
attempt for the first sub 4 mile on the island in 17 years, but also a go at
the Long Island record of 3:53.39 by former world record holder Noureddine
Morceli in 1998. Although some of the guys in the field had PRs in this range
(including Merber) I thought that kind of time seemed far-fetched. I was
honestly just hoping the race wouldn’t dawdle enough that sub 4 was lost.
They
announced Merber last to a blaze of cheers and an amped crowd cheated closer
and closer to the track. I couldn’t help but notice I was standing in almost
the exact same spot I had been when he ran his famous 3:35 at Swarthmore. When
the gun sounded, Declan Murray, the rabbit, took to the front and Kyle strung
up right behind him. It was a brilliant move from the meet director. Despite the
fact that Merber is a great kicker, a strong tactical runner and many of his
best performers have come from running mid pack, he took up a position at the
front to send a message to the field that he wanted this race to be fast. Even
if it meant he was leaving the door open for him to be a sacrificial lamb to
another runner’s glory.
The
announcer said 57.2 at 400m, but from we were standing I have no way to confirm
or deny this (and of course there is a huge difference between 400 and 409),
but regardless it was clearly quick. The group continued to press with Merber,
Heath and Torrence (plus the rabbit Murray) breaking away from a pack of other
sub four minute men. Things didn’t slow down much at 800m (the announcer said
something about 1:53, but again I have no idea what the split was) and when
Murray dropped out at the 1k mark, he was dead tired. Naturally, we told him
good job (he did fantastic) and he said something along the lines of “they’re
going so freakin fast”. To be fair it was hard to hear him over the noise and
his breathing (plus he might have an accent, he’s Irish right? I really wanted
him to have the accent).
We
turned our attention back to the race as Heath was now in command, ready to
collect the $400 bonus for being in the lead at 1309m. Merber was falling off a
bit after taking on the quick pace early on. By the back stretch it became a
two man race between Heath and David Torrence. Heath, who helped make a variety
of races exciting in his career, including the 3:32 by Jager this year, pushed
hard but Torrence didn’t budge. Finally, on the last straightaway, Torrence
powered through to the finish, lost among a sea of cheering fans. We waited
eagerly from our position to hear the official time, 3:53.9, and cheered with
excitement before accepting the invitation to traverse onto the (Emily) infeld.
The
atmosphere was electric with a sea of fans crowded around the timing board, counting
the sub 4s. When Merber took the mic to make a post-race speech, that crowded
quickly shifted from timing board to Merber who just seemed lost in a sea of
adoring fans for the remainder of the night. Duncan Phillips and Ford Palmer
walked by, completely unswarmed, and one turned to the other and said, “That’s
the Merber line?”
“Yep,
Merber line.”
I
didn’t have much of an interest in fighting among the crowd to get a Merber
autograph or picture (I commute every day into New York City, that’s enough
crowds for one day). Besides my dream in these situations is to meet the guy
(or girl), shake his hand and listen to him talk about running. I drifted past
the crowd for Soratos and his Sonic socks, over to near Garrett Heath and Riley
Masters. Masters had apparently given away his race spikes to a couple fans.
Meanwhile, Heath was talking to some autograph seekers, uncorking some great
quotes.
Somebody
must have mentioned to him about how fast and strong he looked during the race.
He told them, and I’m paraphrasing here, “That felt hard from the first steps.”
Something that my girlfriend literally had just said to me after a race, but
seemed like something a guy who just ran 3:54 shouldn’t be saying. It was a
reminder that these guys are runners just like everybody else and probably do
and say a lot of the same things your old college teammates would do. Later, a
fan told Heath he wants to run the 5k like him, to which Heath, taking a bit of
a sigh, said, “Well I’d like to run the 15, but they just keep pushing me up.”
I was loving it.
Eventually,
I moved on from awkwardly standing near Garrett Heath and noticed Stanford grad
Mike Atchoo, standing in normal people clothes. It was a perfect disguise as he
had managed to avoid all autograph and picture seekers. If he had ran the race,
even if people had no idea who he was, he wouldn’t have been so lucky. I
introduced myself, told him I was a fan, and briefly talked to him about his
move to the east coast (joining NJ/NY) and the puns surrounding his last name. It’s
embarrassing how nervous I was during the conversation.
Leaving
the meet, we accidentally ruined Nike Oregon Project runner Treniere Moser’s
chances of escaping the meet by asking for a picture. She was promptly swarmed
by more fans. Our bad Treniere.
Overall,
it was an amazing experience. It’s not very often you get to see some of the
best athletes in the country, even the world, in what is practically your own
backyard. And it was unreal how patient, generous and friendly all of these
guys were. I mean, if it were me, eventually I would want to just get a cool
down out of the way and stretch. Or at least have a few minutes to lay on the
ground, feeling like utter garbage and trying not to vom. Seriously, after a
hard race like all these guys just ran, I wouldn’t be in any sort of shape to
sign somebody’s forehead (it happened).
It
was a night of willing sacrifice, starting with Merber’s pseudo-pacing duties
in the mile and ending with the athletes standing around signing autographs and
taking pictures. But what makes the sacrifices even more incredible is the fact
that, from what I could tell, the athletes didn’t feel like they were making
any sacrifices at all.
So
thanks to Kyle and Brendan and all the runners involved. I’ll see you guys next
year.
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