Changing Tide for American Distance Running?

The American Running Boom of the 80s has been said to have been good for joggers and bad for runners (if you don’t understand the difference, stop reading and go play checkers). Numerous red herrings distracted young would-be hard core runners; road races, cautionary advice from doctors who thought mileage was dangerous ("burnout"), a multitude of sports to pick from, a decline of physical activity, and the Ring Ding surely had some negative contribution. The list is long. What’s important is that we now see a change. The elite high school, college, and professional runners are making a dent in the world scene.

I don’t pretend to keep up on every detail of the sport but allow me to point out some recent performances by American runners. At the high school level we see recent depth that is astounding. In June the Nike Outdoor National (NON) Championships saw a two mile (not 3200) field that looked like this...1st Matthew Centrowitz in 8:41.55, 2nd Craig Forys in 8:44.53, 3rd Elliott Heath in 8:46.12, 4th Evan Jager in 8:47.59, 5th Hassan Mead in 8:51.23, 6th Paul Springer in 8:52.77, 7th Sean Keveren in 8:55.16, 8th Dan Jackson in 8:55.60, 9th Girma Mecheso in 8:56.58, 10 Mark Amirault 8:56.84, Mike Fout in 8:58.79, 12th Thomas Gruenewald in 8:58.98, 13th Robert Finnerty in 8:59.15, 14th Maxwell, 15th O'Donoghue-McDon in 8:59.19 and 15th Josh Mathis in 9:00.16 [Watch the race]. While Nelson’s 1979 record of 8:36.3 still stands this was the fastest American field in history. Others like Sam Borchers (4:03 mile) and Ben Hubers also strengthen the ranks of our young runners. High school girls are lead by the awe inspiring performances of Jordan Hasay who seems to have been born with wheels.

The story gets better because our collegiate runners seem to be improving too. While the colligate system is often blamed for dampening our talent a crop of burgeoning runners are fortifying the ranks. Galen Rupp has continued to strut the stuff he showed as a prep runner, recently set an American collegiate 10k record with a blazing 27:33.48 performance. A few shallow thinkers belittled his running as a high school athlete, arguing that he had the best of everything; coaching, elite training partners, and oxygen tents. The assumption was that having superior conditions detracted from his performances (frankly, I do count Troutmann’s 8:05 3k record superior to Rupp’s 8:03 but that’s just one race and I’m biased because I ran in that earlier record race) and that it would not last. Do the African runners not have a similar situation of hard core conditions, albeit based on different variables, which help them excel? Anyway, other collegians stand out as well; Lamong and Solinsky to pay lip service. Solinsky ran a 3:37.27 1500 in Europe and a string of solid 5ks in the States. Many others like Josh McDougal belong in this discussion but there is no time. I have to move on.

Both the younger groups are feeding what we see rising to the top of the mix. The elite professional level guys are turning heads around the world, including Kenya and Ethiopia. Alan Webb recent set a 1:45.8 PR for 800 meters, losing to David Rudisha by 0.7 seconds. Most notably, he also set the track world on fire with a 3:30.54 for a world leading 1500m. It may be early in the European season but Alen Webb stands strong as the world leader in the 1500 with this performance. This is a phenomenal performance but one that is not alone. Dathan Ritzenhein has struggled but is running well again. Adam Goucher is looking sharp again. Ryan Hall shocked the best marathoners in the world in the April 2007 Flora London Marathon. He set a record USA debut mark with a jaw locking 2:08:24 for 7th place [Watch video interview]. This is astonishing. He also set the American record of 59:43 for the half marathon and looked he was on cruise control the entire distance.

The wave of improvement is not restricted to the United States but can be seen in modernized countries around the world, countries eclipsed by hard won African dominance for decades. If you don’t think the best in the world is taking notice, think again. Haile Gebrselassie (Geb), conceivably the best middle-distance runner in history recently commented on the changing tides from his vantage point. He believes the African dominance could be waning simply because, 1) the rest of the world is starting to train as the Kenyans have, and in conjuncture with that, 2) because now the African nations are falling behind in terms of training facilities, coaching, the newest equipment, and other resources. It’s something to ponder. We're no where close to owning the World XC Champs but Geb is commenting on changing winds.

When asked about the dearth of depth over the past decades the ever provocative Gerry Lindgren said in a recent interview, “It is as if we outsourced courage to Kenya and Ethiopia.” That statement may have held water in the 80s and 90s but I dare say time could prove him wrong – and that time could be now.