Me? I think I'll take a nap. Wake me when cross country comes back.
Why, you might ask, is a running fanatic feeling ho-hum about the most prestigious running stage in the world, the showcase of the best of the best?
One word: Rabbits.
You see, for every race between now and the Olympics longer than 400m - other than National Championship/Trials events - the meet organizers will have contracted one or more runners to set the pace for the pack. Known as Rabbits, these runners are paid to run a certain pace for a certain distance, and then drop out. Longer races will have multiple Rabbits to take up the pacing duties after the first Rabbit steps off. The actual racers just tag along for the ride. Only the last quarter or half of the race will be sans-Rabbit and be a product of actual racing from the real competitors.
Why? I can vouch from personal experience that following a Rabbit is TONS easier than trying to push a certain pace on your own. The difference is mostly mental: you don't have to think about pushing the pace, just following along as the other dude does the real work. Every World Record that stands today, from 800m to the marathon, has been set using Rabbits, and it's fairly obvious as to why. Here's Hicham el Guerrouj setting the 1 Mile World Record using two Rabbits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvCsj7eJKKA&feature=related
Here's the yawn factor: I can pick the winning result of any given "Grand Prix" (i.e., non-Championship) race within a few seconds, and I don't have to watch the video to know exactly how the race played out. The gun goes off and the Rabbits sprint to the front. They settle into their assigned pace, which is usually fairly quick (meet organizers think that "fast" sells more tickets), and everyone else strings out single-file behind them. The long train of runners continues like this, with Rabbits dropping out at pre-assigned spots, until... the finish line. There's the maybe of someone getting out-sprinted in the last 50m, but that's probably the only change of placing.
The 1,500m is notorious for this. I can pretty much guarantee most every race will finish between 3:30 and 3:32, with the possible exception of a 3:29. Every race is essentially identical.
<SNORE>
The saving grace of this monotony should be the Championship races: Rabbits aren't allowed! They should be the grand opportunity to really get out an race. Excitement! Adventure!
Heh! A racer craves not these things! Racers crave only one thing: gold!
When Championship time comes around, I can again pretty much predict the course of the race. The gun goes off and there's a mad scramble for position. Then, after about 50 or 100m, the pace settles down... to a jog (well... a jog at 4:00-4:30 mile pace, depending on the race, but for these guys that IS practically a jog!). The runners bunch up in a tight pack and start looking at each other, waiting for someone to do something, but someone DOESN'T do something, 'cause he's waiting for someone ELSE to do something. With about 400m to go, everyone starts sprinting madly. The top 5 places are separated by less than a second. They put a medal on someone random. Hoo-frickin'-ray.
Again, the 1,500m is notorious for this, as is the 5,000m. In the 15, finishing times can be as slow as 3:45 for the men (3:42 is equivalent pace to a 4:00 mile, which is virtually pedestrian to today's elite runners). At the end of the 5,000, runners will pop off a 52 second last lap. That's a HECK of a lot of gas left in the tank...
Announcers and analysts will call it a "tactical" race. I call it chicken s**t.
Here's a classical sit-and-kick race, the 1976 Olympic 1,500m final: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg2d_s1wfcU The winner, John Walker, was the World Record holder at the time and the first man to break 3:50 in the mile, so he obviously has some speed, but here they all "jog" for 3 laps (3:01) before lighting the burners and coming home in 3:39. You could save yourself some time and just fast-forward to the last 300m, 'cause that's the only racing that actually happens.
As I see it, there are two factors that have yanked the guts out of modern elite runners. The first is the aforementioned Rabbits. By the time a Championship race comes around, very few runners have had the experience of pushing the pace and/or controlling a race; someone else always does that for them. I think this breeds a sort of subconscious lack of self-confidence, so they wait for someone else to take control such that they can follow. It's a place of comfort, minimal risk.
Second, and probably of higher importance, is the attitude not of winning an event, but of not losing an event. "Tactical" races are really all about being in the right position when the sprint starts and not taking any risks. When you push the pace, you stand the risk of "blowing up" - going too hard too early and running out of gas - and that ruins all hopes of claiming the glit'rin' gold. So runners wait... and wait... and wait... and wait...
Now, I'm not trying to be offensive here - I have the utmost respect for the abilities and work ethic of these runners - but I also think that the whole attitude is rather cowardly. It seems today's runners don't have any guts anymore, and I think it stems directly from the ubiquitous use of Rabbits
One of the things I like about cross country is that there are NO Rabbits. The winning move is often a move made around halfway through the 10-12km race - or at least a mile or more from home - that breaks the pack. One runner steps up and says, "I'm going to win this, and you think otherwise you're gonna have to catch me to do it." Sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes it does. Either way, the runner put it all out on the line and was proactive about his running. Running brave, not running scared.
On the track this is happens in only a very few cases:
- John Ngugi (Kenya), in the 5,000m final at the 1988 Olympics, accelerated away from the field (running at about 64-65 seconds per lap), running his 3rd and 4th lap of the 12½ lap race in an astonishing 2:00. The field let him go, thinking he'd slow down and come back to them, but he was able to recover at just slightly slower than the chase pack and continue leading, often by as much as 50m or more. When the chasers finally realized he wasn't going to fade back to them, it was far too late to do anything but fight for the minor medals. True guts if I've ever seen it. (This is the exact same tactic Ngugi used to win his five World Cross Country titles in '86, '87, '88, '89, and '92). Here's the 5,000m: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAt_-EsAr0o and Part 1 of his World XC debut win: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2SynXt8JPc
- Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia), arguably the greatest distance runner of all time and the current World Record holder for both the 5,000m and 10,000m, showed up to the 2008 Olympics and threw down the gauntlet from the gun, setting Olympic Records in both the 5k and 10k. He won by 4 seconds in the 5k, running from the front for about half the race, and this is after winning the 10k and going through a heat of the 5k... that's a lot of hard running!. Confidence, and well deserved. Video: http://www.ethiotube.net/video/455/Beijing-2008--5K-Men
- Gulnara Gulkina (Russia), in the first-ever Olympic 3,000m Steeplechase for women, led from the gun as if she had grown up around Eldoret, Kenya, and broke her own World Record. The steeple is arguably the toughest track event and definitely takes guts; it has to be attacked, and even if you do attack it, it can still bite you in the rear. Blowing up in this event can often mean not just losing, but a trip to the hospital. A front-running World Record at the Olympics? That sort of running is about as brave as it gets. Video: http://www.flotrack.org/video/180765-2008-Beijing-Olympic-Games-Womens-3000m-Steeplechase-Final
- At the US Olympic Trials in 2008, Anthony "Fam" Famiglietti sprinted to the front of the Steeplechase final and ran hard the whole way. He faded with a lap to go and looked as if he might be caught, but gutted it out, finding one more gear in the last 100m to win the title. Knowing he couldn't run with the Kenyans in the Olympics (Fam ran 8:20 in the Trails, while the Kenyans regularly run in the 8:00-8:05 range), he burst to the front of the Olympic final with 4 laps to go and started to drive. The lead was short-lived and he eventually finished in 13th place. Failure? I think not! He went into a virtually impossible situation and gave it his best shot, leaving everything on the track. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4u53FJUJho
- More recently, David Rudisha has been dominating the 800m. In most races he is always paced by his training partner Sammy Tangui and now holds the World Record, but in Championship races he has led fearlessly from the front and no one has been able to come close to threatening him. Here's his 2011 World Champs race, leading from the gun and making it look like he's jogging while everyone else struggles for 2nd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8cvcJZGHi0
The Steeplechase and the 10,000m, interestingly enough, are more often "true-run" races at Championships. Why? I have no idea, but the numbers show the truth of it. Perhaps it has something to do with the inherent "guts" it takes to run those distances to begin with. Not that training for and racing a 5k at 4:20 pace doesn't take a certain amount of guts, but the fashion in which the steeple and 10k are raced says something about the mindset of the racers, and it's a mindset I don't really see showing up in the 800, 1,500, and 5k nearly as much. Here's one of the greatest 10,000m battles ever: Paul Tergat vs. Haile Gebrselassie in both the 1996 and 2000 Olympics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eZ-x4IEoXM
Well... perhaps it's not fair to call the Steeple true-run, because it sorta ends up like a Rabbited race: the Kenyans act like Rabbits for everyone else, but they just never drop out and leave everyone else behind. Yes, they really are THAT dominant in the event, and barring the sudden Rapture of the Kenyans mid-race, they're going to have at least 2 of the medals, and one of those will be gold. Here's one of the better examples, from the 2004 Olympics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMY4CGKNR5U
Also of note: the women's Championship races tend to be true-run much more often then the men. Kudos to the ladies!
Now, "slow" doesn't necessarily mean "cowardly." It all depends on the strengths of the runners involved. For example, Bernard Lagat - a US national formerly of Kenya - is known for his blistering finishing kick. He has the strength to run with the world's best at both 1,500m and 5k (he currently holds the American record for both (Rabbited races) and won gold at the World Champs in both in 2007 (slow, sit-and-kick races)), but his real strength is a slow race where he can draft off the leaders, be in position for a move to the front at the bell, and destroy the field over the last 150m. His "guts" come from deliberately being patient and waiting. But if someone can string Lagat out through the rest of the race - as Bekele did at the '08 Olympics - that kick is useless. That's where tactics comes in: playing my strengths against my competitors' weaknesses.
"Well, that just shows that the waiting game is really a gutsy thing, and everyone is counting on their finishing kick!"
Really? Everyone? Sure, a bunch of guys have a great kick, but... not all of them. And the ones that don't... why don't you see them taking control of the race and trying to run the kick out of the kickers? I can only speculate, but I personally think it comes down to fear - fear of losing or looking like a chump - and lack of confidence. Ironically, by not taking control, they're playing right into the kickers' hands... or feet, as it were. If you still don't believe me, just look up a couple races and watch for yourself: it doesn't take a seasoned professional to know that they're not being tactical, but just waiting and hoping to not lose.
The solution: get rid of the Rabbits. Make them illegal in professional races, Championship or not. For a few years, this will result in almost every race looking like the sit-and-kick races of the Champs, as people will fall into the wait-for-it mode of thinking by default. As time goes on, though, you'll get more and more true Racers showing up, and the races will start to get exciting again. You'll have epic showdowns between modern-day legends, and those showdowns will actually mean something because the runners will have to pull out all the stops to beat each other, relying on nothing bu their own preparation and God-given talent. Eventually, you'll see world records fall and no Rabbits will have been used!
Here's a truly epic showdown at the 2003 World Championships (part 1 of 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qf9aST3ezk
And the crowds will grow. And the sport will thrive.
Leave it all out on the track, my friends, hold nothing back, and run your own race!
Come to think of it, that sounds like a good life philosophy. Maybe we should all give that a shot, every day.
