Friday, November 2, 2007

David vs. Goliath at the U.S. Marathon Men's Olympic Trials

The U.S. Olympic Trials Men’s Marathon will be held on Saturday, November 3, 2007 in New York City. This promises to be an amazing event with the deepest and most talented men’s field in memory. Most of the media attention focuses on the favorites and how they’ll compete against one another for the top three spots and an Olympic berth. Meb Keflezighi, Khalid Khannouchi, Ryan Hall, Abdi Abdirahman, Alan Culpepper, Dathan Ritzenhein, Brian Sell, and a few other figure to wage a very intense race to wear the red, white, and blue in Beijing, China in 2008.

While I’ll certainly follow the follow these outstanding professional runners, I’m also going to keep my eye on two other stories. In recent days, I’ve discovered stories of seemingly regular runners who managed to qualify for the Trials with full-time jobs and families. When I say that these are regular runners, this is a bit misleading. Both of these individuals qualified for the Trials by running sub-2:22 races. By this measuring stick, they are clearly extraordinary athletes. What makes these stories inspirational is the fact that, like many of us, they have normal lives to schedule their training around and still managed these feats.

Michael Wardian, 33, qualified for the Trials with a 2:21:37 performance at the Shamrock Sportfest Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA in March 2007. Wardian lives in Northern Virginia and is an international ship broker for Potomac Marine International (PMI) in Alexandria, VA. He is married and has a one-year-old son who frequently accompanies him on runs in a jogging stroller.

Cecil Franke, 39, qualified for the Trials with a 2:18:13 performance at the Columbus (OH) Marathon in 2006. Franke lives in Centerville, IN and is a high school teacher and coach at Centerville High School. Franke is married and has two children.

The Wardian and Franke stories are amazing and I intend to follow their progress and results on November 3rd. While they stand little chance of running the 2:08 to 2:10 time likely necessary to earn a spot on the Olympic Team, stranger things have happened. Perhaps with weather conditions will slow the pace. Perhaps the lead pack will go out too strong and then fade. Just the fact that that Wardian and Franke have the opportunity to compete with professional marathoners is part of what makes the Trials so special. If you are looking for real life David versus Goliath stories, follow the Olympic Trials on Saturday.