Sunday, May 07, 2000
U.S. marathoners have catching up to do
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The story is from the 1970s. Someone asks a top Brazilian soccer coach when the United States will have its first great soccer player. The coach asks how long it takes to become a U.S. citizen.
“Five years.”
“Then it will be five years.”
Today, the story applies to marathon running. The U.S. got its next great male marathon runner Tuesday when Khalid Khannouchi was sworn in as a citizen.
But Khannouchi, a 28-year-old Moroccan-born world record-holder, is injured and won't run in the U.S. Olympic Trials today in Pittsburgh.
Khannouchi is so superior to the rest of the field for the trials that the thinking was he could run hurt and still win one of the three spots on the U.S. team.
That shows the state of American marathoning. Khannouchi's world record (2 hours, 5 minutes and 42 seconds) is nearly four minutes faster than the top time of David Morris, the fastest qualifier for the trials. Only one other qualifier, Keith Brantley, broke 2:13.
But, unlike soccer, the U.S. at one time excelled in marathoning.
Frank Shorter won the gold medal in the 1972 Olympics and a silver medal in '76. Brantley was the top finisher in 1996 Olympics at
28th. Bill Rodgers won the Boston Marathon and the New York Marathon four times each. No American has won either since 1983.
What happened?
“Nobody has the answer,” said Amby Burfoot, Runner's World editor. “There are dozens of pieces to the puzzle.”
One of the biggest things has been the emergence of the Kenyan distance machine. The Olympic “A” standard is 2:14. Two Americans ran that fast last year; 76 Kenyans did.
Part of the difference is physiological. Most of Kenya's elite runners come from the Great Rift Valley, which sits 7,000-feet above sea level.
“It's tough competing with altitude-born runners,” Rodgers said.
But running experts say the Kenyans team training is as important as any physical advantage.
“We have individuals out there plugging away,” Rodgers said. “We don't have programs like the Kenyans and Japanese do.”
Rodgers trained with the Boston Track Club, and Shorter trained with the Florida Track Club in 70s.
“I think that's one of the answers,” said local running guru Bob Roncker. “You don't have that fierce competition with runners pushing one another that you have on a team.”
T.J. Lentz, one of two Cincinnati runners competing in today's trials, is an example of the importance of a good training partner. The other local runner in the trials, John Sence, is Lentz's training partner.
Running with Sence brought Lentz to a new level.
Lentz has run since high school. He finished second in the 3,200 meters at Ohio state high school meet as a senior in 1986. He ran track and cross country at Wittenberg University. He continued running after graduation informally.
“That's where we lose runners,” Rodgers said. “There's really no post-collegiate program.”
Lentz had some success training on his own, but nothing like he's had since he began running with Sence.
“That was a key element for me,” Lentz said, “John's great motivation for me on the track. He's really pushed me.”
Lentz ran 22 marathons before he hooked up with Sence but didn't break 2:20 in any of them. He dropped his time to 2:17:51 since. Today, he is hoping to run 2:14.
Sence also benefits from having Lentz to train with, but because Sence is the superior runner, he's had to find runners to push him. Jerry Lawson, a former U.S. marathon record-holder, spent time in Cincinnati training with Sence.
Sence also went to Colorado to train with Lawson and others.
Morris, the top qualifier for the trials, went to Japan to run for an 18-man Honda corporate team. In Japan, he averaged 100-120 miles per week. He once logged 176 miles in a week.
Morris ran his qualifying time of 2:09:32 at Chicago. It was six minutes faster than his previous best.
You can't put in that kind of mileage alone.
Rodgers says another big factor is financial. Kenyans see running as a ticket to the good life. The country has a gross domestic product of $1,400 per capita. A top distance runner can earn six figures road racing on the U.S. circuit. In the U.S, where gross domestic product is close to $30,000, Americans grow up living the good life and then want a bigger piece of it after college.
“This is a sport for people in their mid-20s,” Rodgers said. “In the U.S, there are so many ways for them to make money. I think they're all going to work for Internet companies.”
Rodgers advocates putting together teams of U.S. runners to emulate what's been successful for the Kenyans and the Japanese (Japan had 39 runners run 2:14 or faster in '99, second to Kenya).
“We have the talent,” Rodgers said. “The interest is there. We just don't have a plan.”
USA Track & Field is starting to address the issue. Interest in running in the U.S. is at an all-time high. In 1999, 396,000 Americans completed a marathon. That's up from 120,000 in 1980.
“We have to do some fund-raising,” Rodgers said. “... This has to be a group process. We need to develop a plan.”
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