Welcome to the official blog of elite American middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds. Make 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
I am currently sitting in a cafe in Oviedo, a small city in the north of Spain and I’m thinking I have the best job in the world. I get paid to travel to many foreign places doing what I love to do. Well, usually I love this job, but sometimes it challenges me with the most difficult experiences. I ran into a new challenge this past weekend in Valencia, Spain at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
After passing through the prelims and semi-finals with relative ease, I found myself preparing to race in my first World finals. I was about to compete against five of the fastest people on this planet. The prospect had me excited to say the least and I had no idea what to expect. Though this was my first final on the World level, I have been in many championship races. They are, especially in the 800m, impossible to predict.
I assumed that it would go out at a modest pace and eventually slow down leaving things perfectly set-up for me to unleash a 200m kick that would surely result in a top three finish … No such luck.
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Welcome to the official blog of elite American middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds. For more information about Nick please visit: www.nicksymmonds.com
There is so much to write about this week! The last fourteen days have been very exciting for me. Preparation for USA Indoors went very well. The weather in Eugene was ideal and I felt very prepared as I sharpened up for this meet. However, I was thrown for a bit of a loop trying to get to Massachusetts. Our flight was canceled out of Eugene not once, but twice, and in order to get to Boston on time three of my teammates and I ended up flying the red-eye out of Los Angeles. It was not the ideal travel schedule, but this sport is about rolling with the punches. My legs felt much better after a few hours of rest and a shake out. I felt great going through the prelims and though the final was a bit frustrating for me, it was a great race and a great time. I hope anyone who caught the race enjoyed watching it! Its tough to run half a mile and lose by 1/100th of a second, but that is why they measure the finish so accurately. Next time I’m just going to have to dig down that much deeper.
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Welcome to the official blog of U.S. middle-distance runner Sara Hall. Sara’s list of running accolades include being a former NCAA All- American at Stanford, the 2006 USA 5K road champion, 5th place finisher in the 1500m at the 2007 USA Track & Field Championships and the 2006 champion at the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile. Check back every other Friday for her latest entry!
Hello from Philly! I am staying out here in between east coast competitions for the next couple weeks with my training partners Jen Rhines and Kassi Anderson. Tomorrow we head to Boston for the Reebok Indoor Games, and then Jen and I will return before Millrose the following weekend. It has been fun getting to know the running community here in Philly and being reminded how running brings people together socially. I had this same impression in Flagstaff, Arizona prior to coming to the east coast. The running community in Flagstaff is made up of all kinds of people. From working the night shift at a pharmacy to taking a break from practicing law to recently graduating from college, all the runners come from different places, yet are brought together by this common passion.
These experiences, as well as some others I have had recently, have reiterated to me how life is all about relationships. It is so easy to get tunnel-vision as a professional athlete, and become so fixated on the goals you have in front of you and where you are in the process that it becomes all-consuming (especially in an Olympic year!).
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