Well, the trip was great. The marathon was not.
My wife, Caitlin, and I got up went for a run then stopped by the front desk of the hotel to rent bikes for the race. We then set off to test our route for watching the Marathon which is little more complicated than you would think. We weren't sure where we would be able to cross the roads and where we would hit dead ends because of stopped traffic. So we rode around checked everything out and got our route straight. Then the problems began.
Well, we were the on the road and just after the 1K mark of the race we watched Nate and the rest of the field come by, then we rode off top speed to get to the 3K mark of the race. I checked behind a few times to make sure my wife was following, then I hit the spot hopped of the bike yelled at Dan Brown, Justin Young, Matt Gabrielson and Nate. I didn't see the other U.S. entrant, Ed Torres, at either spot so I figured I missed him but I found out later he didn't start the race with an injury.
After watching the US team come by, I was looking for my wife and she wasn't there. I looked down Tiergarten Street to see her with the chain off her bike. I pedaled back got the chain on eventually and we went back to the 11K mark figuring with the post time, we missed the race at the 6K mark as planned.
At this point, we switched bikes and the chain came off again. For those that have seen me during a race can figure what my reaction was to the chain. After a few choice words and more grease on my hands we headed to the 11K mark. We got there in time to see the leaders come by, then waited for Nate. The plan if warm (which is was) was to be patient, pick people off, and run for place rather than time. Nate was a bit back the first two times he passed, but figured he was OK. As he passed this time he already looked to be struggling and pointed to the hamstring which has been giving him problems for some time. I knew then his day was going to be long.
Caitlin and I headed off for the next point and the chain fell off two more times. So we skipped the middle stop and managed to catch Nate again before the water station at 16K. Things were looking grim for both of us: Nate had visibly slowed and my bike was about to end up in the Spree River.
The rest of the Marathon was just a test of hanging in enough to finish which Nate did in 63rd place in 2:32:16. By hanging in, Nate allowed the U.S. to have a team score, which you score the top three finishers from each country in the World Cup team awards. The U.S. only finished three runners as Justin Young withdrew with what looked like a side stitch somewhere after 13 miles.
This was a tough debut in World Championships competition, but the experience should help down the road. The only competition in the World bigger than this is the Olympics. The first order of business is for Nate to get 100% healthy, get in a good training cycle and aim most likely for Boston next spring.
For me, I fly out tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. (yikes). That means leaving for the airport before 4:00 a.m. then landing in Boston at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. It is weird leaving here at 6:00 a.m., traveling 13 hours and it only being a few hours later in the states. From the airport, my wife and I are picking up my two boys and driving up to New Hampshire for the first day of Cross Country training camp. The team will have already been up at camp for the day before I arrive with Coach Joe and Mike. I am sure I will be exhausted for a few days, but I am also looking forward for the start of the Cross Country season.
Friday, Aug. 21: The Day Before
It is the day before the Marathon Nate is laying low at his hotel and my room is getting cleaned so I grabbed my laptop and figured I would get a blog out. This morning I ran one last time along the marathon route and started planning my biking trail for tomorrow. I think I know the course well enough to get around. I am just not sure how crowded certain areas will be so I am trying to stay in less popular areas the same as I do during Cross Country races.
I am getting pretty excited. I know Nate is not 100% but I think he is on the upswing and a good performance could be in the cards. It is tough to think back on what could of been. Nate was in great shape the beginning of March before heading to Colorado. Had things gone well from then until now, I think a 2:11-2:12 and a top 15 finish would of been very possible.
After my run I relaxed for a while and watched three hours of coverage of the men's 50K race walk which was surprisingly entertaining. Yesterday, was another exciting day on and off the track. My wife and I toured Potsdam Platz, once the center of Berlin until The Wall was placed right through the center of the square. Now it is all being rebuilt with several modern hotels, a huge mall, the Sony center (about the same size as the Boston Garden) and construction everywhere.
The construction in East Berlin was not very good. So many of the buildings have to be torn down and be rebuilt from scratch. Potsdam Platz was only about six blocks from Checkpoint Charlie so we walked over and spent several hours reading about the history of the area and taking pictures. It was a huge tourist area and you definitely got goosebumps walking around and seeing the history around you.
I think for my generation it is one of the first major world events I remember and could actually understand. We also ran into Lance Harter, the women's coach at the University of Arkansas, buying T-Shirts with his daughter. One of the athletes he coaches is Christy Wurth-Thomas, one of the favorites for a medal in the women's 1500, which I will see in the semi-finals tonight.
After Checkpoint Charlie, we hopped on the U and went to Alexander Platz which had a huge Puma set-up in honor of the Jamaican team. It measured how close you could run to Usain Bolt for 100 meters (Let's just say I am not very close). They also had a store that was a combined high-end grocery store and an accessory store, so you can buy milk and a $5,000 pocketbook. It was rather bizarre.
From there it was about 800 meters to Museum Island, which is located in Center City Berlin and has four terrific museums and is part of the Marathon Course. The museums were all located in East Berlin so they are also undergoing massive repairs which will take another five years to complete. The one museum we went into housed many Egyptian artifacts.
After a very busy day we were ready for track action. We only got to watch another world record for Bolt in the 200 and a great American win in the decathlon for Trey Hardee. I wish there was some more excitement over here.
Thursday, Aug. 20: A Little History, Schmoosing and a Marathon Course
Since my last blog we have been to the Olympic Stadium every day. I don't know if you can tell on the usual horrible American TV coverage how the electric the crowd is during the competition. Last night they nearly shook the stadium down when the German Robert Harting won the discus. He jumped up into the stands and ripped his singlet off Hulk Hogan style. It was awesome. As a Patriots season ticket holder Gillette Stadium has never had that much noise.
We were sitting with some of the athletes Bridget Franek, a steepler, and Bettie Wade, a heptathlete, and they were in awe as well. Both Bridget, who has one year eligibility left at Penn State, and Bettie (just graduated) were great, telling us how cool it was to get their first USA gear and participate in the Worlds. Bridget was a little disappointed that she wasn't asked for an autograph but Bettie did give a few out on the trip. They were, however, asked to pose for a few pictures during our visit.
On the way to the track this afternoon, we planned a few hours to visit Charlottesburg Castle which was massive. The grounds run along a river and stretch 2 miles with parks, gardens, fountains and ponds. The building itself has 600 rooms and was the summer home for Fredrick, the first king of Prussia. The grounds were so large people came and did their run at the Castle.
In the morning I went over to the track to watch the women's 5,000 meter trials and the decathlon. I was able to sit with Harvey Glance, the men's head track and field coach for this team. At this level, every athlete has there own coach so his job is basically to organize and make sure the athletes have everything they need or want. The USA team staff has 60 members to take care of the athletes, travel etc..., not to mention the personal coaches on the trip. My job with Nate is basically giving bits of advice and holding the watch.
Today (Thursday) Nate is taking a course tour of the Marathon with the US team. I have run most parts of the course and decided to rent Bikes to get around. It is a multi-loop course, so I should be able to see Nate 15-or-so times during the race on the bike. The course is really flat and runs through the Tiergarten, Brandleburg Gate and the former East and West Berlin. Only a few more days left on what has been an unreal experience.
Tuesday, Aug. 18: Trains, Buses and the Olympic Stadium
Today (Tuesday), Nate had his last real workout before the Marathon on Saturday. We went to the practice track at Lichterfelde Stadium about 20-25 minutes from the hotel. I am able to use the shuttle system from any hotel to any practice or competition venue but I risked it and took the U (subway) then a bus. Anyone with a credential or ticket to the meet gets free public transportation.
So I went down to get directions from the front desk and they printed them out for me in German. After some translation in my room and memories from my German classes 20 years ago as a freshman in college, I was off on my adventure.
I easily made the first train, and after a few unsure moments I connected to the correct U train before getting off in Rathaus Stegiltz. Then the tricky part - finding the correct bus. I was not let down by the Germans as everything was labeled unbelievably, including signs and maps that even I couldn't mess it up. In fact I made it to the track too early so I got time to talk to the dozen armed police officers and the 20-or-so trainers at the track. Nate arrived about 45 minutes after I did and he was off to warm-up.
The practice track is part of a track and football (soccer) club so it has a great track with three fields of throwing areas, a huge beer garden/restaurant and two turf soccer fields. It was about 3/4 of mile around the whole complex.
As Nate was warming up I got talking to Khadevis Robinson, the best 800 runner in the U.S. the last four or five years. He was amazed that Nate was running a 5K on the track until I pointed out it was like him only doing a 50 meter hard run four days before his race. He thought that was a great idea and suggested I let his coach know. Nate's workout went as planned (by Nate) and I just sat back, read splits and passed him water at 2,800 meters to practice drinking as much as possible in 400 meters which was about seven ounces.
Nate is one of a handful of former Division II athletes here, joining Carmlieta Jeter (Cal State-Los Angeles, 100 meters) and Bershawn Jackson St. Augustine's, 400 meter hurdles).
A quick note on last night: The stadium was electric all night between the awards ceremony for the 100 meters to the unreal 10,000 meters and women's 100 meters. Our seats are right next to the awards stage (maybe 15 meters from the stage) in the athletes/coaches section. I think the awesome part is sitting there with the best athletes in the world and seeing they are even amazed by Usain Bolt.
I don't know if you can tell on TV, but every time any athlete does well the stadium goes crazy. My wife, Caitlin, who was worried about this trip being too much track for her (like there is such a thing), was screaming and yelling and can't wait to get back to the stadium. She is going out to buy a U.S. flag today to wave around. Can't wait to get back to see some more action.
Aug. 17, 2009: Arrival
The trip to Berlin was smooth. It actually had less headaches than my last few domestic trips. We (Nate Jenkins, my wife Caitlin, and myself) flew from Boston to Amsterdam about six hours then a quick one-hour flight to Berlin. On the second leg of the journey we ran into the Jamie Kempton, a former coach at Saint Thomas Aquinas who recognized me (and not Nate, which irritated Nate to no end, since he was sitting next to him on the plane).
I guess having feature articles in Running Times, Runners World and a new national Saucony ad in the last two months hasn't helped Nate as far as publicity (maybe he should've kept the beard). We also flew in with Ryan Brown (University of Washington) one of the 800 runners on the team who has run 1:46.17 this year at the age of 24.
Caitlin and I hitched a ride on the USA Team shuttle to the meet headquarters at the Astrel Hotel. Since I help coach Nate, I was able to get credentials for the Championships. The team hotel was a center of activity with buses everywhere taking people to and from the Olympic Stadium and the practice tracks around the city.
The Olympic Stadium in Berlin is the same one from the 1936 Olympics when Jesse Owens dominated with Adolph Hitler looking on. A quick picture and my badge was ready. I also was able to get some good stuff from the IAAF for being a personal coach for the championships. Caitlin and I then took a cab from the Astrel to our Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Berlin. The team headquarters are located outside the City Center for security purposes.
Our hotel, which has 900 rooms, is the Mizuno headquarters for the championships so a few teams and athletes are located here. The picture on Nate's previous blog entry is a church just outside our hotel. Meet coverage is all around in the city. Everywhere you go there are posters, billboards and TVs showing the championships. Every light post around the city has a banner with the championships logo on it. Even the lobby of our hotel has been transformed into a track. So much different than track and field coverage in the U.S. They say the meet draws over 400,000 people to the city.
Right next to the church is an enormous square, similar to Times Square in New York City, called Kurfursten-damm. Nike has set up a huge display there with people running on a runway they installed, with their speed posted on a massive digital scoreboard. They are pushing the Nike Lite shoes which I think in the U.S. are called Nike Frees.
We also toured the Europa Mall which has to have 200 stores located in the square. We then stumbled into the Berlin Zoo, which was closed by that point in the day, but has 1,200 animals located there, which we will visit in the next few days. After another mile or so of wandering we sat for the evening in one of the famous German Beer Gardens/restaurants where we ran into some of the Spanish and Japanese team coaches.
It is now Sunday morning...on the docket for today are a trip to Brandenburg Gate (the start and finish of the Marathon), Potsdamer Platz, practice with Nate then the highlight of the day the showdown between Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay.
