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Lead Stories: Saturday, September 6, 2008

Nick Symmonds: One More Hurdle Behind Me
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #14)

Posted June 2nd, 2008 at 8:39 PM by Nick Symmonds

Section: Elite Athlete Blogs, Nick Symmonds

Welcome to the official blog of elite American middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds. Be sure to check every other Monday at http://nicksymmonds.thefinalsprint.com/ for Nick’s latest entry! For more information about Nick, also please visit: www.nicksymmonds.com

With the state of my physical and mental well being left to much interpretation in my last blog, I thought I would take this opportunity to update everyone on how things are going here in Eugene, Oregon. After getting my knee sliced open at the Adidas Track Classic I returned home panicked and not totally sure what was going to happen to my season. I slept very poorly that night, woke up, and throwing all rational thought aside, decided to run 8 miles on my freshly sewed up knee. Crazy thing was, I felt great. My knee felt numb but did not bother me on this jog and I thought things were going to be just fine. However, once I got back home my knee began to swell and ache and ooze due to all the stress I had put on it.
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Nick Symmonds: DNF
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #13)

Posted May 19th, 2008 at 12:34 PM by Nick Symmonds

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Nick Symmonds

As I was hanging out with a few of my teammates this week we got to talking about dropping out in the middle of a race and how often it seems to happen in professional track and field. “You, know I have never DNF’ed (Did Not Finish) a race before,” I said to them proudly.

In hindsight, I was maybe setting myself up for something terrible to happen. I always felt that if you start a race you should finish it no matter how miserable you feel.

Up until this weekend I had stayed true to this belief, but it seemed that it wasn’t meant to be today at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. I went into this race frustrated with my most recent performance in the 1500m and was determined to crack 3:40 and take some major scalps. Despite the 95 degree weather I was pretty confident I could keep my cool (uh, huh….major pun) and position myself well for a lethal final lap.
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Be True To Your School

Posted May 18th, 2008 at 11:30 AM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, Track & Field, College

“I got a letterman’s sweater
With a letter in front
I got for football and track
I’m proud to wear it now
When I cruise around
The other parts of the town
I got a decal in back

So be true to your school now
Just like you would to your girl or guy
Be true to your school now
And let your colors fly
Be true to your school”

I did not go to a track meet this afternoon.

This is an unusual situation for me on a Saturday in May. There’s always a meet going on somewhere, and my previous blog wasn’t written under the name of “The Track & Field Superfan” for nothing. But this wasn’t just any Saturday, and not just any track meet that I didn’t attend.

I ran at Bowling Green State University in the early 90s, and while I wasn’t particularly good for a college runner I thoroughly enjoyed taking on the extreme physical challenge of training and competing in the NCAA’s highest division. I liked my experiences in Bowling Green so much, I remained in the town for fifteen years after graduation, only leaving six months ago when my wife’s career took us away. I bled burnt orange and seal brown.
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Nick Symmonds:
Outdoors is Here!
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #12)

Posted May 6th, 2008 at 11:30 AM by Nick Symmonds

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Nick Symmonds

I freaking love the outdoor season. After a long, cold, and wet winter / early spring comprised of boring days filled almost entirely with training, the track season comes and we get to finally see our hard work pay off. I got to see a bit of this over the last two weeks as I opened up my outdoor season in Philadelphia and Palo Alto.

Going out to the Penn Relays wasn’t originally in the plans but Coach Gags and I thought it would be a good idea to get a nice effort in before my first 1500m. Also, Penn is the most exciting place to race and nothing like it will get you as pumped up for an upcoming season. I ran a 1200m in a U.S. DMR [Distance Medley Relay] and was very pleased with my performance. I basically decided to treat it as a workout and just ran it as hard as i could. In doing this I split 2:51.1 and found out that I am really really strong right now! I was able to give my USA team a good lead but we were unable to finish that way and the Kenyans won (yet again!).
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