Wednesday, March 03, 1999
Lentz qualifies for Olympic Marathon Trials
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
This could be one of those stories about a guy overcoming great difficulties to do great things athletically. But it's not. Because T.J. Lentz will be the first to tell you the fact that he lost his right eye in an auto accident when he was 7 never kept him from becoming a great runner.
“I've lived with it three-quarters of my life,” he said. “It doesn't affect my running. My golf game, yes. I don't have depth perception. But running, no.”
Lentz became the second local runner to qualify for the men's Olympic Marathon Trials when he ran a 2:19:05 at the Las Vegas Marathon three weeks ago.
He'll join John Sence, his training partner, at the Trials in Pittsburgh in May, 2000.
Lentz cut almost six minutes off his previous best marathon with his run at Vegas.
“That's big,” Sence said. “I think it's confidence. Running is 90 percent confidence. You have to put the work in, but you have to be confident.”
Lentz, 31, has been a fixture on the local running circuit. He was the guy with the eye patch chasing Sence.
The auto accident happened 24 years ago. Lentz, living in the U.S. Virgin Islands at the time, was riding with his father when their car was struck on the passenger side.
“It crumbled the front end of the car,” he said. “I was cut up pretty bad.”
He was taken to a hospital in St. Thomas. The eye couldn't be saved. He was flown to Miami two days later.
His family moved to Lima, Ohio, shortly thereafter.
Lentz was a track star at Lima Senior High. He finished second in the 3,200 meters as a senior. He ran track and cross country at Wittenberg.
“But I wasn't very serious about running,” he said. “I wasn't really motivated.”
Lentz came to Cincinnati in 1992. He earned a doctorate in environmental health at the University of Cincinnati college of medicine. He settled here, taking a job with National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
He continued running, hitting the local races.
“The last three years, I started training more seriously,” he said.
Things got more serious when Lentz hooked up with Sence, one of the best road racers in the U.S.
“That was a key element for me,” Lentz said, “John's great motivation for me on the track. He's really pushed me. There are days when he's so far ahead of me I just want to step off the track.”
Sence gives Lentz credit, too.
“He's helped me a lot as well,” Sence said.
The loneliness of long distance runners can be detrimental to training.
“Sunday, we went 20 miles,” Sence said. “When the wind-chill factor's zero, that's tough to do alone. We started out with maybe 10 guys. T.J. and I were the only ones who went 20. But it helped having the other guys along part of the way.”
Sence worked with his college coach from Wake Forest, John Goodwin, and Sence in turn coaches Lentz.
“My coach is aware of T.J.,” Sence said. “So when he sends me my workouts, if I'm doing six times a mile hard, he'll tell T.J. to ease off on the last one. Before, he was just trying to hang on as long as he could.”
Lentz thought he had a shot at hitting the qualifying standard at Chicago in October. He was on pace through 15 miles or so.
“But then everything unraveled,” he said. He finished in 2:30.
He picked Vegas for a second attempt, because the course is fast and weather conditions are usually favorable.
The temperature at 7:30 a.m. was in the mid-40s — perfect for marathon running.
Lentz felt strong through 20 miles. Then he got a cramp in his side, but it passed.
“After 23 miles,” he said, “I knew I made it.”
Sports Stories
Boomer: $1 M donation not enough for him to play
More McAfee makes Xavier much better
Xavier gets commitment from 6-8 forward
XU's Posey, Brown voted to A-10 first team
C-USA tournament useless to UC?
UC, UK basketball facing TV conflict
UC NOTEBOOK
Take two: Three Reds reunited
Reds sign Quezada after all
REDS NOTEBOOK
