10 Mile Tuesday & An Olympic Hopeful

It was nice run today. Sunny skies. Slightly cool but the sun warmed my back.
I ran about 2 miles for warm up and then ran 5 miles at an 8:00/mile pace.
Then 1 mile worth of hill charges at the rain basin, and walked down for recoveries (grades were between 4% and 12%).
Then 1 mile @ a 7:39 pace on the grass in the basin (undulating terrain), including the steep sides (grades were between 9% and 29%).
Yes, I was jittery and winded by the end.
Then 1 mile home to cool down.
TOTAL: 10.1

I ran into Miguel Nuci just before the third mile and we ran together for about 2 miles. He was out for just a short recovery jog (his jog is normally about 7:00/mile, but today was 8:00/mile). He said he could barely walk yesterday and the day before because running the Olympic Marathon Trials just beat him up. It was nice to hear about his experience.

He said he got a bad side stitch in the first mile and couldn't take in water because it made it worse. The water just sloshed in his stomach. He felt good in the middle miles and then toward the 20 mile mark his hamstrings started pulling and everything started to cramp badly. He contemplated dropping out, but then he thought, "This is my first Olympic Trials. I want the experience of finishing." So even though he slowed to an 8 minute pace in the last mile of the marathon, he still finished as strong as his body would allow.

Then he said he collapsed at the finish and woke up in the medical tent. Apparently he had suffered multiple seizures and the doctors there attributed them to SEVERE dehydration. After a little over an hour in the tent he was barely able to take a step. After 2 hours, he was escorted back to his hotel.

He said he was behind Ryan Shay when he saw him slow down. From behind he thought it was Josh Cox. As Miguel ran by he patted him on the back and said, "C'mon Josh, let's do this." But as he moved on he realized it wasn't Josh. He said Ryan looked as though he wanted to sit on the curb. Miguel kept going and as he looked back, he saw Ryan fall slack to the ground. He said he felt worried, but knew medics were right there. He did not find out until he woke up in the medical tent after the race that Ryan had died. He was sadly shocked.

Miguel is so humble. When I asked him how his calves were doing he said, "They are so tight, they feel like baseballs." I asked if he took ice baths and he said, "I know I should, but I'm lazy." Lazy? Ha! No way. It was just nice to know that even runners like him have days when they just don't feel good on the run. He's human after all! I didn't even feel like I was running with an Olympic hopeful. It felt like I was running with my brother or something. I finally told him my name and he said, "Oh, I already knew your name. And it's great to see you running out here all the time." That was so cool to hear.

I hope he feels better soon. He's undecided about which races to run in the next couple months, but named a bunch of them. All elite races of course! He's only 28 and I think we're going to see some incredible running out of of him over the next several years. After all, Brian Sell is 32 and he just made he Olympic Marathon team!