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The Official Publication of USA Track & Field

Volume XIII • Issue 2

Permit #50 Fort Atkinson, WI NON PROFIT ORG U.S.POSTAGE PAID

Youth Outdoor Champion Jasmine Todd

Summer/Fall 2011

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KILKENNY XC4

TOP AND CENTER: VICTAH SAILER/PHOTO RUN; BOTTOM: SUBMITTED PHOTO

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

8 8 Track and Field Through a Camera Lens 14 USA Youth: Best in the World!

16 A Championship Season 24 A True Fit: Alvina Begay and Nike N7

14 The all new Kilkenny XC4 is a lightweight cross country

27 Beauty, Strength, Voice, and Vision: What I learned from a Centurian MK3 Military Tank 29 One for All — Olympic Marathon Trials to Unite Men, Women

racing spike and flat with an excellent fit and ride that gets you to the finish line faster.

30 USATF Events Calendar

27

Fast Forward is an official publication of USA Track & Field, 132 E. Washington St., Suite 800, Indianapolis, IN 46204, published quarterly by USA Track & Field.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jill Geer ASSOCIATE EDITOR Michele Cooper CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Jared Slinde, Katie Landry DESIGN & LAYOUT Basedoor Graphics LLC PRINTED BY Shooting Star Media, Inc. W.D. Hoard & Sons COVER PHOTO Victah Sailer/Photo Run For more information, visit www.usatf.org or call us at 317-261-0500. Questions or comments about Fast Forward ? Send email to: Membership@usatf.org. For advertising inquiries, contact Larry Eder, The Running Network LLC at 608-239-3785.

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Bill Frakes took the iconic photo of Carl Lewis anchoring the USA 4x100m relay team to a victory and world record at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

ill Frakes remembers the day well. It’s familiar enough to the Sports Illustrated photographer that he can even recite the date — August 2, 1992.

“It was the best day of track and field I have ever seen,” he said.

Frakes points specifically to the men’s 4x100-meter relay final of the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in 8

Barcelona. It may have been one of the best days of track and field anyone had seen.

And the photo from the race is timeless.

First across the finish line was Carl Lewis. In winning one of his nine career Olympic gold medals, Lewis anchored Team USA to a new world record. Next it was Nigeria. And then Cuba. All three countries crossed the

Track and Field Through a Camera Lens

BILL FRAKES

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Photographers work hard to promote the sport

BY JARED SLINDE

finish line in intense celebration. To those who didn’t know any better, they would think each team had established a world record.

The memory of that race will not soon be forgotten.

The images will be forever shown as long as there remains track and field. On that Thursday alone, Team USA racked up a total of nine medals, four gold, in just six events.

For love of a sport It’s for these reasons that Frakes and fellow photographers such as Victor “Victah” Sailer dedicate themselves to shooting the sport. They and their colleagues around the country work tirelessly to help promote the sport and to tell the story of track and field through a camera lens — all while making a living.

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FRAKES AND SAILER: SUBMITTED PHOTOS; LEE: CLAUS ANDERSEN/IMAGE OF SPORT; ANDERSON: VICTAH SAILER/PHOTO RUN

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Clockwise from top left: Bill Frakes, Victah Sailer and Kirby Lee. Bottom: Errol Anderson

“It’s the pure competition of the sport,” Frakes said when asked the reason he shoots track and field.

“The winner is the fastest person or the highest jumper. There is no arbitration. It’s the essence of athletic competition. And it’s one of the few sports where men and women get equal billing.”

Their photos appear everywhere from Sports Illustrated to Track & Field News. They are circulated to the world on newswires, on university websites and on newspaper websites.

Sailer owns his own company, PhotoRun (www.photorun.net), while Frakes shoots for one of the world’s most respected sports publications. Sailer, as well as fellow entrepreneurial photographers Errol Anderson and Kirby Lee, shoot almost all the photos of elite athletes that USATF uses in its publications, 10

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promotional materials and website.

Although they clearly need to make a living, all of these men approach their livelihood as a bit of a crusade.

Like all journalists — both photo and text — Frakes lobbies for his publication to cover track and field and to give the sport space in SI. Sailer and his staff travel around the world, yearround, shooting nearly every road race and track meet on the planet.

Anderson and Lee give USATF access to even more world-class photography, especially at events such as the USA Outdoor Championships, Olympic Trials, World Championships and Olympic Games.

Without them, timely photo galleries at www.usatf.org would not exist.

Competitors and teammates At USA Championship events, they work together with their fellow photogs and USATF staff to set rules for photographers in terms of where they can be, to enforce the rules, and to make sure everybody gets the shot they are looking for. They “compete” with each other in the marketplace, but they work in a fraternity of “shooters.”

And they want to make sure the athletes get their due.

“Whether they have already won a gold medal or if they are running in their first championships, the athletes are going to treat you the same,” said Sailer, a retired New York firefighter, about the humble personalities in track and field in contrast to the egos in other professional sports.

(Anderson likewise is retired from the FDNY.) It’s what keeps him coming back to shoot the sport.

Numbers game Life behind the lens can be anything but glamorous. 14-hour days in hot sun, day after day, while wearing unfashionable, gym-class-style “pinnies” denoting infield access is hardly

a day at the spa. All in the interest of getting a few great shots.

The 2011 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., spanned four days of competition.

That week in June also included the USA Junior Outdoor Championships.

During those four days Sailer estimated he took a total of nearly 20,000 pictures. He estimates he made use of 1,000 of them. Frakes estimated he took close to 5,000 photos of elite athletes, using around 200. It’s also a numbers game.

“I’m sure they (average fans) don’t realize what all goes into it, but I don’t know that they need to,” Frakes said of the story behind the photos. “If anything besides the message of the competition becomes the message in a photo, then that’s a problem. You want to see the glory of the competition. That’s what it’s all about.”

And what it’s all about is the finished product. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, but it remains difficult to estimate the impact for the sport of one well circulated photo.

Millions of people will see one photo placed in the “Leading Off ” section of Sports Illustrated, which is a collection of three photos toward the front of each issue. That impact is difficult to measure.

“If you show somebody something they have never seen before, they rip that picture out and stick it on their bulletin board,” Frakes said. “You build the sport one viewer at a time.

The more people who learn how great track and field is, the more people will come back to it.”

“I like shooting from the point of view of the athlete,” Sailer said. “What would the athlete like to see? We are just trying to get things out there that promote the sport. Everyone has their own point of views and not everyone is looking for the same angle.”

Frakes, who has been shooting CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

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U S A

Y O U T H

Best in the World!

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O

n a hot and sticky July evening in Myrtle Beach, S.C., parents, athletes and coaches crowded into a school gymnasium. With standing room only, there was an eerie silence as the room filled with tension. Then the moment everyone was waiting for came as the names of the 41 young athletes selected to Team USA for the IAAF World Youth Championships were announced.

The 41 select athletes represented the very best the U.S. had to offer after hundreds of 16- and 17-year-olds Jacob Burcham

tried out at the World Youth Trials. While those who did not hear their names read from the roster returned home to continue their summers, for the World Youth team, that was only the beginning of their adventure.

The team members reported to training camp the next morning and hugged their parents goodbye. After a brief training period in South Carolina, the team departed for Lille, France. Decked out in USA gear, the strangers from across the country quickly became friends as they encountered a long list of firsts. For most it was their first international competition, for many it was their first time out of the country, and for one it was even his first time on a plane.

The athletes had three days in France to adapt to the time difference, cuisine and culture.

As the meet got under way with the opening ceremonies, the team had to quickly adapt to being track and field celebrities. As the American athletes marched through the city of Lille with all of the other nations they took pictures with other teams and townspeople and heard chants of “USA…USA...USA” as they walked down the cobblestone streets. After each event on the track, the young American athletes were bombarded with local school children asking for autographs.

Even with all of the distractions competing in a foreign country brings, Team USA won both the medal count and point score from the meet. The U.S. team won the placing table with a comfortable margin of 52 points over secondplace Kenya, and brought home a haul of 16 medals (six gold, four silver, six bronze) to tie the record-count set at the World Youth Championships in 2009. H For more on the World Youth Trials and World Youth Championships, visit the Events section of www.usatf.org

14

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VICTAH SAILER/PHOTORUN

WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS

TEAM USA INDIVIDUAL GOLD MEDALISTS, WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS: Ajee’ Wilson (Neptune, N.J) 1st 800m – 2:02.64 Nnenya Hailey (Marietta, Ga.) 1st 400mH – 57.93 Jennifer Madu (Murphy, Texas) 1st 100m – 11.57 Trinity Wilson (Oakland, Claif.)

1st 100mH – 13.11 Arman Hall (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) 1st 400m – 46.01

Jennifer Madu, Bealoved Brown, Robin Reynolds, Kendall Baisden

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FROM LEFT: USA TRACK & FIELD; VICTAH SAILER/PHOTO RUN

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Ashton Eaton

Diana Bautista

A Championship Season B Y JA R E D SL I N DE

The summer of 2011 was filled with more than the usual amount of national, regional and even world championship events — and all that before the IAAF World Championships came to Daegu in late August. The following is a quick run-down of key championship events. For full coverage and photo galleries, visit www.usatf.org 16

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World record-setting W75 4x100m team of Christel Donley, Barbara Jordan, Flo Meiler and Irene Obera

2011 World Youth Trials and Youth Outdoor Championships Myrtle Beach, S.C. (June 28–July 3) It was a combination of the 2011 World Youth Trials and USA Youth Outdoor Championships that made their way to Myrtle Beach, S.C. In the Youth Championships, Lauren Williams (midget girls division) and Tyjon Lindley (midget boys) each recorded a hat trick of national titles. Williams picked up wins in the girls’ 100m, 200m and 400m and Lindley did the same in the boys’ 200m, 400m and 80m hurdles. Also winning multiple events were Jasmine Todd in the girls’ long jump and triple jump (young women); Magdalyn Ewen in the girls’ shot put and discus (young women) and Margaux Jones in the girls’ pentathlon and high jump (youth girls).

In the World Trials, Aldrich Bailey and Madeleine Myers stole much of the attention. Myers established a new high school record in the 2,000m steeplechase while Bailey claimed titles in both the 200m and 400m.

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USATF National Junior Olympic Championships Wichita, Kan. (July 26–31) Marcus Krah’s performance at Wichita earned him USA Track & Field’s Athlete of the Week honors.

Krah won three gold medals and set a national youth record. He won the triple jump with a leap of 13.54m/44-5.25 to beat Michael Martin’s 31-year-old record and also picked up event titles in the long jump and 100m hurdles.

A total of three records fell during the Junior Olympic competition. Along with Krah, Adam Coulon (pole vault) and Ashlie Blake (discus) also established national records.

USA Masters Outdoor Championships Berea, Ohio (July 28–31) World records and multiple gold medals were the story at the 2011 U.S. Masters Outdoor Championships.

Khalid Mulazim (M45, 400m), Ralph Maxwell (M90+, pole vault) and Thaddeus Wilson (M60, 100m

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USA Junior Outdoor Championships Eugene, Ore. (June 23–26) In the middle of Track Town USA and senior athletes hoping to punch their tickets to the World Championships, the USA Junior Championships did not disappoint.

Among the highlights, Central Florida University’s Aurieyall Scott completed a sprint double by claiming the 100m and 200m, Shelby Ashe won her second consecutive U.S. Junior hammer throw title and Avionne Allgood established a new national high school record in the javelin. Although he competed in the “open”

competition, Trevor Barron established four American junior records in the 20km race walk in Eugene, including his 20km time of 1:23:25.10.

USA Outdoor Championships Eugene, Ore. (June 23–26) Spots were on the line for the World Outdoor Championships in Daegu, South Korea, when the 2011 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships converged on Hayward Field.

Walter Dix claimed national championships in both the 100m and 200m while Allyson Felix became the first sprinter to win national championships in the 100m, 200m and 400m in a career with her win in the 400m in Eugene. Ashton Eaton established a new world-leading mark and led a stellar American class into Daegu in the decathlon.

World Masters Athletics Championships Sacramento, Calif. (July 6–17) In the midst of multiple world record setting performances, Johnnye Valien stole many of the headlines.

Walter Dix

Allyson Felix

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VICTAH SAILER/PHOTO RUN

hurdles) all established world records and 97-year-old Leland McPhie won an astonishing eight gold medals throughout the meet.

There were also multiple American records established which included Carol Young (W70, hammer throw and weight throw); Robert Whilden (M75, 100m); Ruth Welding (W55, weight throw); Jennifer Stephens (W35, weight throw); Mark Green (M55, race walk); Chris Schmid (M60, race walk); and Johnnye Valien (W85, high jump).

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Valien won an impressive five gold medals during competition while setting world records in both the W85 long jump and high jump.

Other standout performances from the meet included Ralph Maxwell setting a world record in the M90 decathlon, Team USA winning a total of 13 gold medals in the 100m alone, Gary Stenlund bettering his own world mark in the M70 javelin, Patricia Peterson’s new world record in the W85 400m and John Altendorf ’s new world record in the M65 pole vault.

Pan Am Junior Championships Miramar, Fla. (July 22–24) Over the three days of competition in Miramar, Fla., Team USA dominated the medal count. The 59 total medals Team USA captured were eight more than all the other countries combined.

When competition had concluded, Team USA’s medal count included 26 gold, 21 silver and 12 bronze. That total was significantly ahead of second-place Canada, which finished with 14 total medals. For Team USA it was the second-highest number of gold medals and the second-highest number of total medals ever won.

Gunnar Nixon

USATF Club T&F Championships Icahn Stadium in New York City (July 8–9) The Norfolk Real Deal captured the women’s team title while Shore Athletic Club and the Central Park Track Club tied for men’s supremacy at the 2011 USATF National Club Track & Field Championships. Central Park Track Club captured the men’s and women’s combined team title.

Aubrey Baxter of the Team Nebraska Brooks was the Most Valuable Female Athlete by placing first in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

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BAXTER: MIKE SCOTT; SLOAN: USA TRACK & FIELD; NIXON: KIRBY LEE/IMAGE OF SPORT

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2011 Honda LA Marathon Race Report: ing a flooded street in Brentwood, like the other 23,542 finishers. He just ran away from everyone, including defending champion Wesley Korir, who finished 3rd.

Just how amazing was Markus Geneti? He went by the elite women, around 1 hour, 34 minutes into the race, even with the elite women’s 17 minute, 3 second lead. This is part of the $100k LA Marathon race challenge, which is given to the male or female elite runner who actually crosses the finish line first. Each year, the handicap for the elite women is a bit different. Just before 20 miles, Genuti flew by the women. His countrywoman, Buzunesh Deba, charged past Amy Hastings into the lead. Hasting followed her, and charged back into the lead, just as she had for the previous 20 miles.

Deba, Mara Dibaba and Hastings did battle over 26.2 miles. Hastings, training with Terrance Mahon and the Mammoth TC, hit the halfway point in 1:14 and duked it out with Deba, who, in her ninth marathon, ran her personal best of 2:26:34. Deba finally broke away from Hastings just before 23 miles. Hastings did not give up. She held on to run 2:27:03 and become a real possible challenger for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 11 months.

Marathons are about preparation. Marathons are about focus. The Honda LA Marathon, as presented by K-SWISS, has elevated the game: a more runner-friendly course and amazing digital communication with the runners as they prepared. Constant positive affirmation, like a digital coach, was given to the marathoners as they prepared for the race.

Even with all that Mother Nature could throw at it, the field persevered, because, as all 23,543 finishers understood, the pursuit of the marathon, the goal of finishing the 2011 Honda LA marathon is bigger than any one of the individual runners. When all those fiery spirits come together, there is strength and power in numbers!

See you at the 2012 Honda LA Marathon, presented by K-SWISS!

—By Larry Eder

Kristin Burns Studio/LA Marathon

©2011 Rich Cruse/LA Marathon

The author Charles Dickens opens A Tale of Two Cities like this: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

That line could have described the challenges Mother Nature threw at the 23,543 finishers of the Honda LA Marathon, presented by K-SWISS. While the race started under threatening clouds, those clouds did open, but the nearly 25,000 starters braved, at times, torrential rains, tough winds and a challenging course throughout the city of Los Angeles, for the duration of the race. Yet, with all of those challenges, nearly 97% of the starters finished the 2011 Honda LA Marathon.

Rod Dixon, 1983 winner of the NYC Marathon, fourtime Olympian and Olympic medalist, is director of coaching & training for the Honda LA Marathon. Dixon noted, “What a day, what a weekend. Certainly one for the record books!”

Rod was rightly proud of the high finishing rate of his training club, the LA Road Runners (sponsored by the race’s official footwear and apparel sponsor, K-SWISS). The LA Road Runners were a microcosm of what happened in the 2011 Honda LA Marathon. There were many, many success stories. Rod noted, for his club, “We had eight runners under 3 hours. Fourteen runners qualified for Boston (the previous best was two), and it looks like 96–98% finished and 58% set personal bests!

Why did so many marathoners not only finish (97%), but 58% ran personal bests? Part of the story is the success of training groups, and the fact that the more one prepares for a situation, the better one’s chance of success.

Many of the marathoners were running for causes. For many marathoners, this makes the actual running of the race an even bigger thing, as they are running for someone or something else.

Rod Dixon says it best: “The LA Roadrunners trained and prepared for the LA Marathon, with a great team of pace leader-coaches. For whatever race day presented, we prepared the best that we could. Based on that confidence, the Roadrunners accepted the weather and adjusted their goals and tackled the adverse conditions like true champions.”

23,543 stories at the 2011 Honda LA Marathon, where the weather, the course and the runners’ focus and training all overcame their personal challenges. Markus Geneti, an elite Ethiopian runner known for his racing over 1500 meters and 3000 meters, debuted at LA. Geneti took charge before 10 miles, and just did not stop, running a 4:26 mile en route to his 2:06:35 marathon finish. Geneti faced the rain, includ-

Kristin Burns Studio/LA Marathon

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A True Fit

Alvina Begay and Nike N7

BY JARED SLINDE

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ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NIKE

W

ithout rehearsal, Alvina Begay and Sam McCracken answer the same questions nearly identically. And without coincidence, their backgrounds are just as similar.

So it only seemed logical that McCracken, who has dedicated more than a decade of his life to promoting good health through sports to his fellow Native Americans, and Begay, a U.S. distance runner, registered dietician and also a Native American, would cross paths.

McCracken is the General Manager and founder of the Nike N7 program, which is an organization committed to “bringing sport and all of its benefits to Native American and Aboriginal communities in the USA and Canada.”

It was an idea that grew when McCracken watched his brother suffer and die from type 2 diabetes in 2001. At that point McCracken wished to make a difference and began building a relationship with Nike. It was that relationship that eventually led him to work with Begay.

Begay struggled to summarize just how important programs such as Nike N7 have been in helping her get to where she is today. Programs such as Nike N7 and Wings of America, a similar organization Begay remains involved with, have been with her every step of the way.

“Wings of America helped me see my dream and Nike N7 made my dreams a reality,” Begay said. “It gives me the opportunity to give back to the Native American community. Through sport and through running, I promote all Native American people to be active to promote good health and fitness.”

“Alvina exemplifies everything we do,” McCracken said. “When you think about her background and where she came from; we really complement each other.”

Where she came from is the Navajo Reservation in Ganado, Ariz. It is a place which will always be close to Begay and a place she hopes to return to in the future. It was there she began her interest in running.

Now 31 years old, Begay was a standout high school athlete and competed collegiately at Adams State College and Arizona State University, where she is eighth all-time in the 10,000 meters for the Sun Devils. But her accomplishments didn’t stop there as she continued competing after college. Among other accomplishments, this year she qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials to be held January 14 in Houston, Tex., running 2:37:14 at the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon.

There is also her career-driven focus of promoting

a healthy lifestyle as Begay is a registered dietician and attains a master’s degree in Health Administration.

It all adds up to Begay being a walking billboard for the goals and missions of the Nike N7 program.

“Alvina has found a home here,” McCracken said. “She saw the reality in this company and was excited to become a part. She asked me how can she help and I asked her how can I help you.”

Essentially Nike N7 allows Begay the chance to continue to compete in the sport she loves and the continued opportunity to provide assistant in promoting what has become such a vital part of her journey.

“Being able to give back and to promote my message,” she said is the most rewarding part for her. “Being a dietician and being a professional runner, I can now promote the sport even more. Nike N7 helps me to do that.”

And Nike N7 extends much further than the track or on the roads. Among other impressive figures, a quick search through other current ambassadors reveals the names of Boston Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford. Both standout Native American athletes just like Begay, each has a story of giving back through Nike N7.

It is these examples of athletes coming together for all different sports and backgrounds to make the personal commitment to promote the N7 cause that McCracken calls humbling.

Begay isn’t quite sure how much longer she will continue to compete in running, but has no plans to give up the sport anytime soon. At some point she would like to return to the Navajo Reservation and continue to promote her mission and her chosen career path.

It’s a path that started long ago running the trails in her hometown of Ganado and brought her to places such as the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials.

“I started running when I was in the sixth grade,” Begay reminisced. “Right now my focus is on the Olympic Trials in January. And I definitely have the desire to keep competing.”

Whenever the time comes that Begay takes a step backward from the world of competitive running, her career goals are just as driven as they have always been.

“Eventually I would like to move back to the Navajo Reservation,” she said. “I want to work with Native Americans like myself working as a dietician or as a coach.

And just keep advocating good health.”

And chances are good Nike N7 will be right there beside her each step of the way. H 25

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SUBMITTED PHOTO

FAN FEATURE

Kimberly Ann Borin runs atop a tank as part of the “Track and Field” installation at the 2011 Venice Biennale.

Beauty, Strength, Voice, and Vision What I Learned from a Centurian MK3 Military Tank B Y K I M B E R LY A N N B O R I N , E D . D .

T

his summer I ran on top of an overturned military tank in an international art exhibit.

Sound strange? It did to me and to everyone I spoke with when they asked about my summer plans. I was a running performance artist in the installation called “Track and Field,” within the United States’ exhibit, for the 2011 Venice Biennale.

The Biennale has been referred to as “The Olympics of the Art World.”

Countries choose one exhibit to represent them in this awe-inspiring collection of art to be seen by art enthusiasts and collectors from around the globe. The U.S. exhibit, “Gloria,” was created by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla.

When I saw the notice from USA Track & Field requesting runners to take part in the art installation, I saw the words “perform,” “art exhibit” and “Italy.” “Wow!” I thought to myself. So, I e-mailed, I called, I prayed and I posted the ad on the fridge.

And I was accepted. I started training for good form, for grace on a tank, for not being afraid of heights, for people watching or in any other way that I thought would help for a running event I never imagined. I didn’t realize that the running would be second to all else I learned. I became part of a family of people that included runners from all over the United States, and artists, performers, and visitors from all over the

world. In the process, I also gained new definitions of beauty, strength, voice, and vision.

I was in awe of the beauty of all of the people that became part of the experience. The runners were Olympians, world ranked marathoners, ironman triathletes, sprinters, coaches, filmmakers, artists, educators, and more. Dave Durante, our Athletic Recruiter, gave us encouragement, information and instructions about our time in Venice. I was also grateful for other people who were part of the experience, The Rose City Runners (my home team), my family in the United States and Italy, the other performers, the visitors, and the 27

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O F F I C I A L U S AT F SPONSORS

O F F I C I A L U S AT F SUPPLIERS

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artists. Alessandro and Matthew, interns at the Guggenheim, became my “coaches” as they watched and gave me clues about how much time was left in my 15-minute performance.

I was in awe of the strength required to perform as a runner or as a gymnast. While in Venice, I lived with other runners and the gymnasts who performed on the other installations at the Biennale. Their concentration, flexibility, and strength were amazing!

When I started performing, I realized there were elements of strength I needed that I had never encountered before. The treadmill went at a slow speed so I had to run on my toes, with high knees. The 10-foot drop to the left of the treadmill required me to get over my fear of heights in a hurry. The treadmill shook with the vibrations of the tank from side to side. There was also the sound of the treads, a loud metal-on-metal grinding, an unbelievable though sometimes comforting sound. When we turned the tank on each morning, people came from everywhere to find the source of the noise and then watched while covering their ears.

Another factor that made it challenging were people taking pictures and videos around the tank and underneath the treadmill too. The performance required concentration

to be safe, to be graceful, to perform well, to smile to children who waved, to be one with the sound of the tank and to be aware of the 10-foot drop. While concentrating, I was also thinking about how I loved that tank, how grateful I was for the experience and how I sometimes felt like giggling out loud.

I was in awe as I was reminded of the power of our voice. After each session, visitors would clap, give high fives, give a thumbs-up and just wanted to chat. People from all over the world wanted to talk about the tank, the message, the runner, and world peace too. The runners were anonymous but people were curious to know what we did outside of running on a piece of art. I enjoyed hearing people’s questions and interpretations of the art and we laughed together as we shared insights about life, too. Their stories energized me and reminded me of the power of our voice. We never know how our voice, our art, our story, our laughter, or our words can bring a positive message around the world.

I am in awe of the power of opportunity, imagination, and a vision for what is possible. The whole experience stretched what I understand about running, performing, and our part in the international community, art and gratitude. I am grateful for CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

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OLYMPIC TRIALS

One for All — Olympic Marathon Trials to unite men, women B Y K AT I E L A N D R Y

For the first time ever, hundreds of men and women will line-up on the same day, in the same city, for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon. Hundreds of athletes have qualified, but only three men and three women will represent the United States in the marathon at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

USATF and the Houston Marathon Committee have launched www.Houston2012.com to serve as the complete guide to the trials. Schedules, weather information and spectator details are all available. Q&As with well known favorites and up-and-coming marathoners are regularly featured on the site as well.

Spectators will be treated to double the action as both the men and women compete on the same criterium style course made up of three large loops.

2008 Olympic Trials champion Ryan Hall “Winning the Olympic Trials was one of the highlights of my life.

It was the fulfillment of a vision I had when I was 14 years old and had just finished my first run around the lake.

What was so special about it for me is that I had so many hard times throughout my running career that it made it that much more sweet to hit a great day on the right day.”

VICTAH SAILER/PHOTORUN

EXCERPTS FROM ATHLETE Q&As HOUSTON2012.COM

WHEN: WHERE:

Houston, Texas LEARN MORE:

www.Houston2012.com

2004 Olympic silver medalist Deena Kastor “It is great that the men’s and women’s trials are being hosted together.

There is going to be a fantastic energy in Houston this January that no running fan will want to miss.”

KIRBY LEE/IMAGE OF SPORT

January 14, 2011

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Introducing the New Balance 890 with REVLITE. It weighs practically nothing.

It’s about to change everything.

U S AT F E V E N T S C A L E N D A R OCTOBER 22 USA Masters 5 km Cross Country Championships Fairport, N.Y.

NOVEMBER 5 USA Marathon Trail Championships Bend, Ore.

OCTOBER 23 USA 50 Mile Championships Boalsburg, PA

DECEMBER 10 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships Seattle, Wash.

OCTOBER 30 USATF 30 km Race Walk Championships Congers, N.Y.

USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships Myrtle Beach. S.C.

NOTE: Schedule is subject to change

Track and Field Through a Camera Lens

Beauty, Strength, Voice, and Vision

Continued from page 12

Continued from page 28

Olympic Games and world championships since 1984, will not forget the angle he had that August day in 1992.

And thanks to timeless photos from that day, neither will anyone else. H

the beauty of all the people I met and worked with and the artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla. I am grateful for the strength of the performers and the ability to perform on the tank. The experience affirmed the power voice, and how our conversations with others can bring greater compassion and community with the world. Lastly, I am grateful for the opportunity offered by the USATF that helped me to expand my vision of all that is possible. H

A Championship Season Continued from page 22

shot put, second in the hammer, third in the discus and fourth in the javelin. Kevin Thompson of Shore AC was Most Valuable Male Athlete, placing first in the 200m, fourth in the 100m and running on the 2nd place 4x100m relay team. A total of ten meet records were set. H

com/890 Š2011 New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.

For complete stories, results and analysis of these and other summer competitions, visit the Events section of www.usatf.org.

For More Information: http://www.imamuseum.org/venice

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Introducing the New Balance 890 with REVlite.

The neutral-cushioning bar is hereby raised.

Built with REVlite — the lightest midsole foam we’ve ever created — the 890 weighs practically nothing, and it’s about to change everything.

com/890

©2011 New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.