David Krummenacker's Journal V:
The Second Half Of The Season

(October 8)

Starting With A 1500

Heading into the second half of the summer season I felt like I had some ground to make up. My first race after the break was a 1500 in Stockholm. I had run a PR there in ’02. Stockholm is one of my favorite places in the world to race. Each year I have been there the city, the meet, the weather, and the hospitality have been wonderful.

I was a little under the weather with a cold in Germany about a week before the race and had backed off my training a bit. By the time I arrived in Stockholm however I felt refreshed and ready to go.

The race started very quickly and after the first 400 I wondered if I was running the 800 or the 1500. My plan had been to follow very close to the leaders but at around 1000m I began to feel the affects of the hot early pace. With 300 to go Lagat was flying up the backstretch making sure the pace did not miss a beat. I felt myself tiring big time so I threw everything I had into one last push for home but I ended up 9th and had run 3:35.93. Although I was not ecstatic about my race I knew it was behind me and mentally I was on to the race ahead.

As I arrived back in the hotel I laughed and thought about one of my best friends, Ibrahim, who had joked with me the year before when I had made the jump from 3:36 to 3:31. He told me I was going to have to come back and visit those times in between 3:36 and 3:31 sometime. Yeah, he was right.

Sometimes Things Just Unfold

The next morning I flew to London. I had an 800 race in two days. The weather in London was hot and muggy. This was quite a change from previous years. Usually London is cool and wet if anything. The night of the race I thought to myself, "It’s time to put one down." The first 200 I felt like we were walking although when I glanced at the clock I saw 23-24. I thought to myself, "It’s on tonight."

At about 250 into the race someone pushed Sepeng who was in front of me and he went down hard. I had to stop, then jump over him, meanwhile two other runners and I tangled. When I looked up I saw the other runners who had been clear of the mess rounding the curve and heading up the straight. Off I went flying to catch them. I was within reach at about 150m to go but I couldn’t make up anymore ground in the final straight and ended up 6th (1:46.89).

I think it’s safe to say I was not too happy about that one. Sometimes races unfold just the way you’d like them and other times they simply just unfold.

Not The Way It Was Planned

I flew back to Germany the next morning and had two weeks of good training before Zürich. When race day arrived I thought to myself, "OK, now it’s time to put one down." The evening weather was perfect and Zürich is renowned for the blazing times it produces. I wanted to start quickly in this race and stay out of trouble. That plan sort of folded however when I found myself in 6th after the first 200. I maintained position for the next 300 and then made a move that got me into about 3rd position with 150 left in the race. The last 100 I did not have the surge I needed to finish strong and ended up 10th (1:45.23).

As I walked back to the hotel I thought to myself, "This summer is not quite going the way I had planned." I drove back to Germany that night with one of my training partners (Patrick Nduwimana) and we talked about the next couple weeks ahead leading to the World Champs.

The World Championships

I flew to Paris about a week before my first round. I really liked the athlete’s village the Paris organizing committee had set up for us. There were running trails, bikes for us to cruise around on (we were hosted on a university campus), movie theaters, Internet cafes, the works. The majority of the athletes stayed together there and it was nice having time to visit with them. At most of the other meets we fly in and out in a matter of two or three days.

In my first round of the 800 I felt the adrenaline racing. We went out very quickly and after the first lap I knew we were in for a 1:45 or so first round. I felt very good and with about 100 to go I was behind a wall of three other runners. I knew the pace was very fast so I just maintained with them (1:45.84 for 4th) and 5 or 6 runners from our heat made it through to the next round.

The semifinal the next day I ended up leading, which was a mistake for me. Everyone started slowly and as we broke off the curve it simply came down to me leading the race. I ran alone for 600m and with about 200 to go I made a surge for home but it proved not to be enough. I was passed by 5 other runners in the homestretch and my quest for the medal stand came to an abrupt halt.

It was very hard for me to swallow that defeat. There are a lot of close friends and fans that have been cheering me on this journey and I had wanted to give U.S. distance running something to celebrate. A few days later I read something from the Baha’i writings that brought me perspective and focused my vision for Athens. It reminded me that sometimes achieving greatness exacts some hardship along the way. The quote I read was, “With fire We test gold, and with gold We test our servants”.

The Last Hurrah

My last race of the season was in Yokohama, Japan about three weeks later. I love going there. Asia is amazing to visit and the culture is unlike any other in the world. The competition the year before had been held during a torrential down pour so we were all very happy to see blue skies on the day of the meet.

We did not have a pacemaker for this race and everyone was a little sluggish from the long travel. I had a feeling the pace would not be searing. True to form we came through 400 in 56. I was in 3rd most of the race and with about 100m to go we all swung from lane 1-5 unleashing our kicks. I ended up 2nd and closed the chapter on this outdoor season as soon as I stepped off track.

Surf’s Up!

I’m about 3 weeks into my rest period now and am growing eager to begin my preparations for next year. I’m grabbing a surfboard before that however, I think there are few waves in Hawaii that have my name on them. See you all next season.

Thanks for reading,

David Krummenacker

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