The burrito defense⏱

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Allie shares the hard parts

We often only see the good parts on social media because those are the moments that have made it through the filter and are chosen to be shared. But over the course of a 16-minute long video, Allie Ostrander showed us all what it means to truly be authentic and transparent by opening up about her ongoing battle with eating disorder recovery. What makes this raw video so especially powerful is that it’s not coming from the other side and told in the past-tense — she is in the midst of it. It’s unfortunately an all too common problem in the sport, but rarely discussed this candidly so hopefully Allie’s willingness to be public about her struggles will further the necessary and difficult conversations. Remember, we don’t know what athletes are going through outside of the 9 minutes we watch them compete and the glossed-up versions of their lives they post about. Some seemingly innocuous comments may be doing more damage than you intend. And at a time when many coaches and sponsors would turn a blind eye or do the exact opposite of the right thing, Brooks and USATF stepped up to support Ostrander in this fight by encouraging/forcing her to get help. Wishing Allie all the best and rooting for her as always!

If you build it, they will come 🌾

The days of yelling 'TRACK!’ at walkers wandering into lane one are over for the Hoey boys. Josh, Jaxson and Jonah were doing their best to train through the pandemic, but they kept running into the same problem — security guards chasing them off local tracks. Their father Francis, an accomplished runner in his own right, came up with the sort of solution most could only dream about — build his own oval. He purchased 150 acres of land in Coatesville, PA and contacted Beynon Sports with a simple request — create an exact replica of Hayward Field’s dimension and surface for his new backyard. Seems like Benyon did solid work! At the Hoey Invitational on Friday, Ajee Wilson won the women’s 800 in 2:01 and Johnny Gregorek grabbed a new two-lap personal best of 1:46. The plans for this new facility are still undefined, but there are hopes to host a few more meets throughout the summer to create more opportunities to help the sport. I know our international readers were already impressed by the ubiquity of tracks in the United States and this will only make paying 10 Euro to use the local track even more painful. When you have your own track you make your own rules, so don’t worry Beer Mile Media guys — I already made the suggestion.

No more kidding around 👶

There comes a point in every young prodigy’s life where the conversation shifts from potential to expectation. Well, Jakob’s ‘Bar Mitzvah’ took place recently in Florence and lasted exactly 12 minutes and 48 seconds — he is now officially a man. Mazel Tov! One year ago, I think a medal would have been incredible and we’d have all collectively lost our minds at a 19 year old mixing it up with the world’s best. But at 20, his youth just isn’t worth mentioning anymore, and he seems to be handling the pressure just fine. With this 14 second personal best he came out ahead of the 5k WR holder, Joshua Cheptegei and the 2016 bronze medalist, Hagos Gebrhiwet in the event. I’d say we have a new favorite here, or at least put Jakob in the same category as the last person to beat him at any distance, Jacob Kiplimo. They have a lot in common: Both have run 12:48, are 20 years old and basically share a first name!

Note: The 1500/5k double is doable.

Duck earns his wings 🦆

In 2018 when Andy Powell left Oregon, many of his athletes understandably followed him to Washington as he is extremely good at coaching. Obviously if you’re having a ton of success in one training system, it is reasonable to want to continue in that program. Cooper Teare was just finishing his freshman year, but decided to stay in Eugene. When I give high school athletes advice about their college decision, I try to urge them not to fall in love with a coach, but the school as a whole. Coaching is a job and the guy or gal holding the stopwatch has their own family and career aspirations beyond making sure you run fast. If this is a difficult reality for 18 year olds to grasp, wait until they hear about the bonuses that are made off of their success!

We got to know Cooper well this summer through the Ben Crawford video series (now known as New Generation Track and Field) documenting the large group of college runners training in Boulder during quarantine. Indoors he would run a collegiate record of 3:50 only to then be out-kicked by his teammate, Cole Hocker, in the 3k at NCAAs. I’m comfortable admitting that I had my doubts about whether or not the duo could keep it going this late in the year, but it would appear the new coach, Ben Thomas, is also quite good at his job. Hocker miraculously closed in 1:48 to run 3:35 and win the 1500 — showing that he has the skills to be competitive well beyond the college ranks. And it was a (potential*) fairytale ending to Teare’s career as he captured his first individual NCAA title on home turf by taking down a famed school record with his 13:12 5k.

*He has one full-year of eligibility left, but there will be plenty of offers.

Have you met North Carolina A&T?

There’s a new uniform at the front of most races these days and you may recognize it if you’ve ever raced in Greensboro, NC for high school nationals. The North Carolina A&T Aggies took the NCAA by storm this past weekend and they did so with a chip on their shoulder. Cambrea Sturgis made sure that her name won’t soon be forgotten again with the double 100/200m victory. Randolph Ross won the 400 in 43.85 thanks to the guidance of his dad/coach. And the 4x400 was a victory for mid-majors everywhere as the men won with Stephen F. Austin just behind. What if I told you that you didn’t have to accept a fraction of a scholarship to attend a Power 5 school to be good at running? I’m not necessarily willing to die on this hill, but fancy locker rooms don’t actually make you faster.

Was this just misdirection? 🧙‍♂️

Based on the number of times Fred Kerley has posted the number ‘42’ on social media the past couple years, it’s not unreasonable to assume he intended to focus on the 400 this year. He is the world bronze medalist after all! Well the day after tweeting three more 42s, he scratched the 400 to focus on the 100/200. His personal bests of 9.91/20.24 are good, they’re just not 43.64. Maybe #phase42 was a relay split this whole time? Yes, he is still eligible! (Speaking of which, Athing Mu made her case to be in the relay pool after setting the collegiate record and then splitting 48 in the 4x4, though she’ll be running the 800 at the trials.) We are just fans sitting at our computers writing stupid newsletters. It’s possible Fred ran a 19.2 in practice last week and everyone doubting his decisions will feel mighty silly about it! And if Skip Bayless has taught us anything it’s that you can make an entire career out of always being wrong.

Scratched up 🤕

Watching the status of entries and declarations on the USATF homepage is the perfect preamble to the inevitable heartbreak that dozens of 4th-place finishers will experience at the Olympic Trials. Among the athletes pulling out due to injury are some of the most consistent and dominant runners of the last 12+ years: Molly Huddle, the 28x USATF Champion, Evan Jager, the Olympic silver medalist who has been making teams since 2009 and Shannon Rowbury, a 3x Olympic 1500m finalist. Just like how I got used to seeing a blurred version of myself in the background of big race finish line photos, there are certain faces we come to expect to see vying for the titles upfront. Only time will tell if this is a one off moment of bad luck for each or if it is a changing of the guard. This seems like a good time to mention the fact that many of the athletes competing are similarly hurt, but will be stapled together long enough by KT tape and Tylenol to make it to the line.

That trajectory 📈

Can we check what the odds of Air Force’s Mahala Norris winning the NCAA steeplechase title were from back in April? She ran the event for the first time just seven weeks before becoming the best collegiate steepler in the country on the strength of a storming final 100 to take the title in 9:31. That time is good for the 10th fastest seed in the event heading into the Olympic Trials, and not to put a damper on things, but her meteoric rise shouldn’t give us all unfounded hope that we’re about two months away from becoming world class at something we haven’t tried before. She’s definitely an outlier! At just 4 feet and 11 inches, there are plenty of reasons she shouldn’t stack up in this event that often skews extremely tall. But post her races on a scatter plot to see how her improvement is trending and she’s worth betting on.

And then there is Sean ‘Squirrel’ Burrel of LSU, whose first time running the 400H came on April 3rd. He cut his time down to take the victory in Eugene in an unbelievable 47.85 — another outlier! This won’t happen to you!

Did you know Elle Purrier grew up on a dairy farm?

This was a fantastic story that tells the rest of the world something running fans have known for a while — Elle Purrier is from Vermont.

The burrito heard around the world

Well, it’s never a good sign when the New York Post is covering Track and Field! Before diving in, if you think I am going to come out and publicly proclaim Shelby’s innocence or guilt then you are going to leave disappointed. I have no clue. What I do know is that my phone has been blowing up since this news broke and it is not limited to my running friends — this story has gone national. While Bowerman is busy canvassing for her cause within the court of public opinion (and seemingly winning), those who exist outside the American running bubble aren’t giving the same credence to ‘the burrito-defense’. Anecdotally, the private conversations happening offline skew more accusatory than the posts in your timeline. Occam’s razor would suggest that she was cheating. But that principle was established in the 14th century, well before we were dosing pigs up with anabolic steroids and serving them at food trucks.

Whether Shelby is telling the truth or not, it’s a terrible situation. Either the system has failed her or she duped a lot of people. As a rule, I don’t like to accuse others of cheating and generally give the benefit of the doubt to most performances. (In last week’s newsletter I included an argument as to why the women’s 10k WR could be legitimate. To enjoy this sport as a fan you have to buy into its legitimacy, even if you sometimes get burned for your credulity. Within the United States it is my belief that the legal abuse of TUEs (therapeutic use exemptions) is a much more widespread concern than outright steroid use.

But the entire Bowerman TC squad sticking together in Shelby’s support does seem to strengthen her case. If members of BTC had their suspicions it would be hard to fault them for quickly distancing themselves from her. Besides, the odds of 20+ people keeping a secret about systematic doping seems highly unlikely, especially because the rumor of this news began circulating many days before the press conference — we know at least someone in that camp has loose lips. If you accept the dual premise that BTC’s not operating in complete secrecy and it’s in clean athletes’ best interest to not stick up for a dirty one, then either Shelby decided to try micro-dosing on her own or Schumacher thought the individual on his team who needed it most was his best runner. Something doesn’t add up — especially coming from the same person who wouldn’t even wear the super shoes because she didn’t want an asterisk next to her name.

But then again, there are certainly red flags (they’re blaming pork but she got steak?). Enough of them that her appeal was denied.

So rather than continue to postulate, I will heed the widely applicable advice of a friend: you don’t need to have a hot take or an opinion about everything that ever happens, as soon as it happens. With a phone in hand at all times it’s tempting to say something that will spark controversy, but it’s ok to also just observe and wait for more information. Right now we are only hearing one side of the story. But this is a newsletter and I know many of you opened it, salivating for a piping hot take, so if there is one takeaway from this whole circus it’s that if we are going to be skeptical about one athlete’s guilt, we should extend a similar bit of cynicism to more decisions passed down by anti-doping bodies. The Venn diagram between those proclaiming Shelby was wrongfully accused and those who make blanket statements about other athletes — who have never tested positive — looks almost like a perfect circle. Next time someone from a different country gets popped take a moment to ask yourself if maybe they also ate at an authentic Mexican restaurant.

Regardless of whatever plays out or whatever new information does or doesn’t come to light, I hope Shelby is doing okay and is surrounded by friends and family who care about her well-being independent of the sport.

And please don’t ever accuse track of being boring.

Trials Talk

I am heading to the Olympic Trials on Thursday and it’s a pilgrimage I’d encourage every track fan to make at one point in their life. I’ll be putting out a daily podcast from the Tracksmith house with Chris Chavez and you can listen to all the banter on the Citius Mag podcast network.

It’ll be interesting to see how this one compares to the past two, but my wager is that it’ll be the same as always — a beautiful amalgamation of career networking, reliving of glory days, drowning of sorrows and indulgent celebrations. This meet is the peak of the sport for me, as every race features athletes whose stories I have been following intimately for years. There are too many people to root for!