All Tied With Nowhere to Hide!

As I count down to what I hope will be a Boston qualifer this Sunday at the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon, I look at the CARA M55-59 point standings and see three of us tied at 128 points behind one-of-a-generation Sam Cortes. Eric Burgess, Fritz Gareis and I are dead even for now, but Eric will soon be at least 14 points ahead of us because he is one under the minimum for races that are scored (you get 15 for first, 14 for second etc. in each race). Fritz is looking great and whipped me at the Makin' Tracks 5K on Saturday. I wasn't even in his area code. The Circuit sure beats you up, but I confess to loving the challenge. I've been in this situation several times before and ended up 3rd a couple of times and 4th or 5th a lot of other times. I know one thing. I'll give it my best shot.

Gebrselassie Runs 2:03:59!

By now, if you're a geek, you know this. I am quite astounded, frankly. I wasn't sure a 36-year-old could do this, but unless I'm seeing things on the Web as I sit here at in the middle of the night, Haile Gebrselassie, the 36-year-old Ethiopian superstar, ran 2:03:59 today at Berlin, smashing his previous world record of 2:04:26, set last year in the same event. This one will stand quite a while, I have a feeling. Of course, Chicago is in two weeks! Irina Mikitenko went sub-2:20 to win the women's race. For a wrap-up, go to http://www.sportinglife.com/others/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=others/08/09/28/ATHLETICS_Berlin.html

Quad Cities Marathon Set for Sunday

I've never run this one, but I hear it's good. The Sept. 28 race, which starts and finishes in Moline, IL, goes through four cities in two states (Illinois and Iowa). Quite a few African and eastern European runners should work to produce a men's winning time around 2:15 and a women's time in the 2:30s. If you run it, post a comment. Here's the Web site:
http://www.qcmarathon.org

Not Much Lacks at Makin' Tracks

Serving as a fill-in race on the highly charged CARA Circuit, the Makin' Tracks 5K did a good job of providing CARA quality on short notice on Saturday. Having changed from 10-year age groups to five-year and re-ordering all the awards were just a couple of things the race had to do once it was designated as a Circuit race to replace the Park Ridge Charity Classic 5K, which was cancelled for this year only because of construction. I was as stale as they come and felt myself breathing hard while running a mighty pedestrian pace. I lumbered in at 21:04, slow for me and not good in my quest to finish in the top three in my age group. I was sixth in a throwaway race for me on the Circuit. Others fared much better, including men's winner Timothy Henry , 24, of Wheaton (15:49.4) and Colleen Newhart, 24, of Oak Park (17:50.2). Second-place finishers were Dave Wilson, 39, of Brookfield (15:57.9) and Sanya Syrstad, 43, of Warrenville (18:11.8) and third-place overall went to Nathan Kennedy, 22, of Bolingbrook (16:05.3) and Pam Blair, 27, of Chicago (18:23.7). The venue, based at the Concordia College stadium in the leafy west suburb, was excellent. Hats off to my Elmhurst Running Club mates, most of whom had terrific performances again this week.

'Geb' Goes for 'Welt' Record at Berlin

Can you say Haile Gebrselassie? Can you spell it? I've always had trouble with the latter. Sunday (Sept. 28) is Haile's highly anticipated return to the Real Berlin Marathon, where he set the current world record of 2:04:26 a year ago. Gebrselassie says he has trained well and is up to the worldly task. He'll have pacers capable of going 30K (out of 42,195) at or near the torrid pace that only the Ethiopian great can run. He also ran a 2:04:53 in Dubai, so he's no fluke. Saying he was worried about Beijing's pollution, he skipped the Olympic marathon and should be ready to go. It's been said by some Berliners that Berlin's course is faster than Chicago's. Things get cooking around 1:30 a.m. Chicago time for you die-hards. On the women's side, watch Askale Tafa of Ethiopia and German favorite Irina Mikitenko. OK, here I go out on the limb. I'll take "Geb" in 2:04:45 (sorry, no record) and Tafa in 2:22:15. Next up after Berlin on the World Marathon Majors schedule is our own Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Oct. 12. If anything big happens in the German capital, you know Chicago executive race director Carey Pinkowski will find an answer.

Joanie: Still Tough As Nails

So you're savoring your recent 5K time? Check this out if you haven't already seen it. Joan Benoit Samuelson ran a 17:24.3 on Sunday (Sept. 21) in Providence, R.I. Joanie is 51 (not 52 as listed in the results)! If you click below, you'll also see Illinois natives Paul Jellema (winner of 2008 Community Bank of Elmhurst 4 on the 4th) and Tera Moody (winner of many local races and fifth at U.S. Olympic Trials in April) in the results of this power-packed race. Here you go. This isn't your every-day 5K:
http://coolrunning.com/results/08/ri/Sep21_CVSDow_1_set3.shtml

Verzbicas: Stranger No More

Lukas Verzbicas, the runner I didn't know, causing me to call him the runner "in the yellow singlet and green shorts" as I did the play-by-play from the lead car at the 4 on the 4th race, is tearing up the local prep cross-country scene. The Lincoln-Way Central sensation has won three straight invitationals, including the Argo Invite on Saturday, Sept. 20. Verzbicas, a 15-year-old freshman of Lithuanian extraction, showed he is destined for greatness, smashing the Argo meet's 22-year-old record of 15:00 by almost 21 seconds with a 14:39.3. It had been held by former Niles Notre Dame great Len Sitko. Verzbicas, who finished a very strong fourth on July 4 at the 4 on the 4th, won the Argo meet by 59 seconds over Martin Grady of Fenwick, which has a very powerful team this year. He is a resident of New Lenox.