I had the opportunity to compete at the USATF 20k National Championships this past Monday and wanted to give an inside look at the whole process when it comes to getting entry, traveling to the race, and running the race:

To start, the Faxon Law New Haven Road Race plays host to the USATF 20k National Championship. The race occurs on Labor Day near the campus of Yale University. The first edition was run in 1978 and was won by Bill Rogers. In 1993 it became the Men’s National Championship and has served as that championship ever since. The Women’s National Championship was added in 2001. The course can be fast, with records of 57:37 set by Khalid Khannouchi and 1:05:11 set by Colleen DeReuck.

I had competed in the 15k, Club 8k, Half Marathon, and 25k Championships so far in 2017 so I thought it would be good to round out the list with the unique 20k distance. How does one enter the race? Well first you nervously draft up an email stating who you are, where you’re from, if you happen to run for a club, and what you’d like. The cool thing is that over email the Elite Coordinator can’t see you typing… deleting… typing… deleting… till you get everything exactly right. Once your inquiry for admittance to the race is received you brush off the pressure and go about your day.

For about 5 minutes.

You check back to see if they happened to have responded. Did you phone buzz?? Nope false alarm. In this case, John Tolbert, was very quick to respond allowing me entrance to the Elite Race. I hopped on the web to book flights, shell out a couple hundred bucks, then lock in my fate for Labor Day 2017.

About a month later John emailed me back with more information on how we’d get from the airport to the hotel.

“You’ll be on a shuttle with Leonard Korir (Olympian and defending 20k champion) and Christo Landry (Defending USA Running Circuit Champ).”

Gulp. No pressure. Play it cool. Saturday, September 2nd comes and I fly out. Hop on an easy connection through Philadelphia and arrive at the airport around 2:00pm. I have some time to kill before the 4:45pm shuttle. Leonard and Samuel Kosgei of the WCAP team based in Colorado Springs, CO walk over and sit down next to me.

They must’ve assumed I was another person on their shuttle because I happen to be wearing Hoka running shoes and I’m rolling out with a R8 Recovery Roller. Some fine detective work right there. Everyone else at the airport was just looking at me crazy. We make some small talk before heading down to meet a waiting Christo and our shuttle driver, Antonio.

The trip down to New Haven is relatively short. I take a cat nap while listening to some throwback pop music in the background. After checking into the hotel I went for a quick scout of the course as a shakeout. I wanted to get familiar with the last few miles so running the last 5k of the course wouldn’t be totally new to me.

The next morning I met Christo and my roommate, Ryan Smith, for an easy few miles. We made our way to a nice bikepath that branches off of the main streets. As we turned around ~18 minutes out we joined another group of four runners heading back the same way we were going. I recognized a few of them from previous races and result stalking that one is prone to do prior to a large race.

Sometimes it’s hard to get past the overall front of “this person has run 61:XX for Half Marathon, that guy has run 2:15 for the marathon.” As I go to more of these events I realize that there are actual good and honest people behind those race times or accomplishments. Just because they can run a 5k at what feels like your sprint doesn’t mean they aren’t approachable and unable to shoot the breeze with.

These USATF events typically offer a tour of the course to newbies like myself who haven’t run the event before. This helps with being familiar heading into the race. You have the chance to note “Okay there is a small climb here, take that tangent there, watch the footing here.” I shared a van with our helpful local guide who I didn’t catch the name of, my roommate Ryan, Shalaya Kipp, Roberta Groner and Kelsey Bruce. We chatted along the way and soaked up info on the 12.4 mile course we’d be tackling the next day.

The course starts near “The Green” which is apparently a term for a grassy plot in the middle of downtown. Coming from the Midwest this term was foreign to me, but I appreciate the open space in the middle of restaurants and shops. You run West/Northwest for 4 miles before coming back East on a long stretch of road for miles 4.5 through 8. From there you work your way North to East Rock Park with a vicious climb around mile 10. Mile 10.5 has you make a left hand turn which is the last turn of the course. The last long stretch will make you or break you as you rush to get back downtown to the finish line.

At 5:30pm all Championship participants met to go over the rules for the race, to ask any USATF officials questions, and to go over technicalities like drug testing and prize money. There was a touching moment where John Tolbert invited Sara Hall to say a few words about late former great runner Ryan Shay who had won this race in 2004. If you’re important or have a chance at being near the top of the race the guys from USATF.tv ask you to stick around to say a few words on camera. When it comes to the circuit I am a nobody, so I opted for a short three-mile jog and strides with Ryan.

5:00am comes quickly and I’m up and moving. I grab a cold brew coffee that I picked up the night before from Starbucks and drink half relatively quickly to get some caffeine in my system. I throw on running clothes and head outside for a short one-mile jog to loosen up my legs. After getting my blood moving a bit I go back to the hotel and head to the Elite Hospitality Suite which is fully outfitted with snacks, water and Gatorade. Race morning brings a full spread of bagels, coffee and tea.

I grab a bagel and heat it up while making small talk with some of the other guys milling around. After my bagel is warmed to sufficient temperature I head back up to my room and slather some peanut butter and honey on it while finishing the rest of my coffee. Ryan and I shoot the breeze until it is time to head to the start line. We arrive in the elite tent to other runners clad in tights and bright colored clothes from various sponsors. I wait until 7:30ish and head out for a 20 minute warm up jog with Christo.

We see others on the same bikepath going through their standard routines. After a brisk 3 mile run we’re back at the elite tent to wait in a short line at the port-a-lets. I then go the street adjacent to the start line and go through a set of drills that I’ve seen other people do at some point or another. After all, I’m not sure if they help, but fast people seem to do them so it must be worth something. As I warm up with some butt kicks, leg swings, and skips I see others going through the same routine.

Yep that’s Jordan Hasay rocking some awesome shades and braids. Galen Rupp can jump way higher than I can and he seems to make no sound as his feet hit the ground. Sara Hall looks smooth doing some uptempo pickups. I can recognize the stride of Sam Chelanga anywhere. After a few minutes of B.S.ing my way through some “drills” I go back to the tent to change into race (or “game”) shoes.

Everyone gives the same look while lacing up their weapons of choice. “What is that guy wearing?” “That jersey looks pretty cool…” “Compression socks or no?” The minutes to the start tick closer and everyone assembles for the National Anthem and some last minute instructions.

The starter counts down: 10… 9… 8…

The crowd hunches over eager to take that first hard step: 7… 6… 5… Shifting feet are antsy to blast off: 4… 3… 2..

The announcer calls as a small cannon shoots to signal the start of the race. The pack pushes forward as distance runners explode out of their stance and propel themselves forward.

I settle in with a crowd of runners I’m semi familiar with. Pre-race chats agreed for our small crew to target somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:00 to 5:05 per mile as long as we could. We settle into a comfortable contingent marking the lead pack in front of us. The first group passes the mile in 4:57 and we roll past shortly in 5:00. Hmm.. Funny. I wouldn’t expect to be near the lead pace at all. We pass the sights in the first 5k without much going on. The lead pack has started to inch away as they hover in the 4:50s after an initial slow two miles.

Our group still works together and rotates through who is taking the pace. In one sense the race up front doesn’t seem to matter. Our small cluster has developed into it’s own bout of blows and blunders. Who can surge and drop the rest when it really counts? Who will press too early and sacrifice the last half of their race to pick up :02 for one mile split? It is a careful balancing act and game of chess for everyone in the race to measure themselves against whoever they seem to pair with.

Our pack loses a runner here, surges up a hill and splinters only to regroup on the immediate downhill. We pass through the 10k in 31:20 as a pack before three of the runners in our now pack of five decide to press on and try to catch the other small pack of three about :10 ahead. I hesitate and decide that there is a bit too much left in the race for me to be able to make a fully confident bold move like that. I find myself running aside William Sanders from Wehtersfield. We pace each other through the next few miles as we head towards the part of the course that had been hanging in the back of my mind. I try not to psyche myself out too much as we approach the only “major” climb of the race just before the 10th mile.

I start to lose a bit of distance from William but manage to pass a few guys who had fallen off the hotter early pace of the lead pack. I grit my teeth and pump my arms as we start to climb and it’s honestly over quicker than I thought. The next worst thing I could imagine as we crest the hill starts to happen. I feel the burning sensation in my quads that could only be the cause of 10 miles of hard running going straight into a steep downhill. I keep my stride fluid and attempt to let gravity do the work. Gravity apparently heard that it was Labor Day so it took the day off and I muscle through the descent back into town. The scenery coming down the hill is gorgeous and I really admire how nice everything looks from my view inside the pain cave.

I see our last turn come up and I try to pick up whatever shred of momentum I have left. I try to keep the distance between myself and the runners in front of me the same, if not try to close the gap. The last stretch seems like a blur as we approach the finish line. I can hear the crowd getting a bit louder with a quarter mile to go as a runner I previously passed before the hill, John Raneri of Brooks, passes me with less than 400 meters to go. I can’t hang on to his kick and throw myself across the finish in 18th place with a time of 1:03:35, or 5:07 per mile.

I’m content. I walk around and talk with my former competitors turned now friends with 20k of running behind us. Everyone makes their way towards the tent to change shoes and get a short cool down jog in before enjoying the post race festivities. We chat about how our races were. Who did well, different accounts of how things played out in the race, who failed to cover a move, who felt lousy going up that hill, who bombed down the downhill, and other fun recollections of the past hour of racing.

With enough miles in my legs for the morning I walk back to the hotel to get a quick shower before meeting some new friends for coffee and a sandwich. The day ends with a late flight back home and a reflection on the events that occurred. I felt like I backed up my 18th place USATF Half Marathon finish and 15th place USATF 25k finish and established a good starting point for my hopefully long career on the circuit.

I browse social media during a layover and catch up on all the post race pictures and videos that I missed throughout the day of running and travelling. I cross my fingers that my last flight gives me a seat without a toddler kicking the back of my chair so I can re-charge my batteries a bit more for my run the next morning.