Sean Graham's (in white jersey along side 2nd place runner Ed Moran '03) Euro Tour Blog #1 – Cork City Sports 3000m – Cork, IrelandAn Introduction
After a mediocre performance at USA Nationals I looked forward to beginning a full month of racing in Europe. With the help of my agent Matt Lonergan I fortunately was able to get in many of the races I was looking for, including two 3k’s, two 1500’s and a big 5k at the end. Including the week in Indianapolis I will be away from my current home in Eugene, Oregon for a total of 6 weeks, competing in 6 races. I will attempt to keep you up to date with results of my races and stories of my travels as the trip goes on. This entry I believe will be the longest by far because of the craziness I had to endure just to get to the first meet. Read More
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Getting There
Four of us on the Nike Oregon Track Club (OTC) left directly from USA Nationals in Indianapolis to Europe on Monday June 25th, two of us, me and Catherine “Cack” Ferrell, were traveling to Ireland while the other two, Matt Scherer and Kevin Elliot, were on their way to Denmark.
We flew first from Indy to Philly, no problem. Our flight from Philly to Brussels, Belgium (we were to meet up with our agent and another athlete there and fly back to Ireland with them) was supposed to take off at 8:30pm after a 2 hour layover. However, due to “mechanical difficulty”; meaning they sure as hell weren’t going to cancel the flight and put us all up in a hotel, the flight did not depart until 2am. Thankfully I was able to get a few hours of sleep on that flight and 8 hours later we arrived in Brussels now 6 hours late (3:30pm Tuesday Belgium time). We were to have a layover of 9 hours in Belgium, during which we were to get from the Brussels airport to the Charleroi airport (approx 1 hour away by train). Now due to whatever the hell happened in Philly we only had about 3 hours to get through customs, find Matt (agent) and Kristin (steeple-chaser from Missouri), and get to Charleroi to jump on our flight to Dublin. Cack and I got our luggage and made our way through customs to find Matt and Kristin waiting anxiously for us in the arrival area for 7 hours. Matt had our tickets for the train all set and the four of us got on the train headed to Charleroi. At the first stop the train seemed to be staying at the station for a rather long time. After 10 minutes or so people started to get off one by one; we waited about 5 more minutes until we heard from another passenger (no announcement) that the train broke down and would not be continuing on. We hustled through the train station and decided just to grab a cab. A 35 min cab ride and 150 Euro bill later (approx $225), we arrived in a PACKED Charleroi airport 40 min before our flight was to depart. We made our way through check-in after paying 40 Euro extra because my baggage to keep me for 6 weeks was over the 15 kilos limit allowed total, and hustled to the security screening. A quick aside, my team (OTC) is sponsored by Gleukos, a sports drink which comes in both liquid and powder mix. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to travel with as much liquid Gleukos as I would need for the trip I brought a bulk bag of the powder mix to have for the length of the trip. Anyway, I make my way through screening and the agent asks to search my carry on bag…no problem, I’m in a bit of a hurry but it’s their job. The agent digs through my bag, takes a long look at me then back at the bag, me again, and again the bag, the slowly pulls from the bag my Gleukos powder mix. An aside again, the way we get this mix is in bulk directly from the manufacturer without the fancy packaging or labels, just a printed sticker of the flavor and ingredients stuck on a clear plastic 4 lb bag of very fine white powder. Thinking about it now, quite possibly the sketchiest thing you could every try to bring on an airplane in a foreign country. “What is this!?” He asks. I quickly learn it is difficult to describe Sports drink powder mix to someone who speaks broken English. Two agents arrive and very politely escort me and my Gleukos around the corner and behind a curtain and ask me to explain the 4 lb bag of fine white powder in my carry on luggage at their small airport. I am as helpful and polite as I possibly can be attempting to explain that its just sports drink mix, to which the head agent responds very nicely “Thank you, I understand what you are saying, but why am I to believe this is not cocaine” Ohhh nooo. He then continues “We must test this before allowing you to continue.” YES PLEASE TEST IT. I am then escorted back through the security lines having only slept 4 hours on the flight the night before, with messed up hair and bloodshot eyes to another back room with 2 agents carrying my carry-on luggage and a 4 lb bag of fine white powder. Needless to say I got a few looks on my way. Anyway, the tests came back negative, clearing me of my drug smuggling suspicion and I somehow made the flight with my group to Dublin. We finally arrived Dublin at 8:30pm (still Tuesday) checked into the Airport Radison and met up with the fourth member of our group. His name is Ryan McKenzie, a 1500m runner from Canada, who I nicknamed “Canada” because of his, let’s call it extreme Canadian Pride. We found our rooms, got some dinner and finally got to bed in order to catch the final flight the next morning at 9:30am to Cork, Ireland.
A big problem with traveling to Europe to race is adjusting to the time change and getting enough sleep. The biggest issue is being able to fall asleep at the right time and sleeping through the night, needless to say, after the travel experience of the day and a half prior, it wasn’t a problem at all.
Arriving in Cork
The quick 50 min flight the next morning (Wednesday) went as smooth as can be, and we were met at the airport by a representative named Sonya of the meet “Cork City Sports.” We piled in her rental van and headed off. I assumed she would take us directly to our housing; however she mentioned that she wanted to take us to the Army Barracks overlooking Cork. I’m a bit tired but this sounds fun, I assume we will have a look around, maybe have a nice view of the city, and then be on our way. I couldn’t have been more wrong. As we are pulling into the barracks Sonya flashes a very ornate invitation to the guard who directs us where to park; curious I think, this may be more than just a tourist stop. We park and are escorted into a very traditionally decorated building with a meeting room stocked with very well presented refreshments and a few quite political- looking individuals talking to one other. We come to learn that we, along with US National Champion in the high jumper Amy Acuff, are the guest athletes at the official opening reception of the “56 Annual Cork City Sports.” We end up speaking with most of the dignitaries of Cork, Ireland, including the former Lord Mayor, the newly elected Lord Mayor and his wife, from what I could tell the entire Cork City Sports council, and a number of high ranking military officials. Hors douvres were offered by men in tuxedoes, speeches were made, photos for the papers taken, and I was interviewed by two radio stations. It was a bit unexpected since I was wearing the same jeans that I began the trip in and a button down shirt that had obviously spent some time in a suitcase, but it ended up being a lot of fun to say the least. Sonya then took us to our housing; which can be best described as floors of 5 single occupant dorm rooms with a common room and kitchen on each floor.
Leading up to the Meet
We thankfully had a few days before competing to rest and prepare to race. Our housing was only about a 7 minute jog from the track and there was a nice road that ran out of town from the track along a river that we were able to get our runs in on. With most European meets everything is covered while at the meet site, and this was the case for this meet. The meet paid for our housing, meals were free at a small restaurant around the corner from the dorms, and we were also given 300 Euro to cover travel to and from the meet which was really nice. We were very lucky to have Sonya tell us of a few nearby tourist sites and take us to a few as well; including the Blarney Castle where I officially kissed the Blarney Stone.
I did a short workout on Thursday of some 200’s to get my legs back under me after the disastrous travel. I felt quite good having gone for an hour run the day before; however, it was remarkably windy at the track that afternoon. Friday was a more relaxing day, having our meals with some other US and Australian athletes at the restaurant, and lounging around the dorms. My legs felt quite good on the run that day and I was excited to compete the next afternoon. Unfortunately the weather forecast for Saturday called for showers and high winds, and that was nearly exactly what we got.
Race Day – Cork City Sports 3000m
The race was scheduled to go off at 3:45 in the afternoon. I had some breakfast around 10am and that would about do it for the day before racing that afternoon. By the time I arrived by shuttle to the meet the showers had all but stopped but the wind was blowing hard and by hard I mean HARD. My warm up went fine, and my legs were feeling ok, not great, but as good as could be expected. The field consisted of four Africans, (one of whom was a rabbit) Max Smith of Australia, Mark Carol of Ireland - whom I was told numerous times that I look like, but don’t at all - a few other guys from around the UK that I hadn’t heard of, and myself. By the time we were doing our final strides on the track the wind down the back stretch was at a constant 15-20mph gusting to around 35mph every minute or two, plus drizzling rain. Perfect conditions for running fast? Not quite. The gun went off and the 4 Africans went out quickly. I attempted to go with them but around 400 meters I felt I was pressing too hard and was being absolutely stood up by the wind on the back stretch since I had about 5 inches in height over each one of them. I made the decision to let them go and wait for the chase group to catch up to me, which was about 3-5 strides behind. I tucked in with the second group and was able to get a little reprieve from the ridiculous wind for the next few laps. We were hitting about 64-66’s per lap and I remember hearing a mile split of 4:19 I believe, so needless to say this wasn’t going to be a fast race. At a mile, the rabbit up front dropped and the lead pack slowed a bit as well. I decided that I would make a strong move on the group I was in at around 600 meters to go for my legs were feeling really quite good off of the slow pace and I figured I had the best closing strength in the group I was in. Coming down the backstretch to 600m to go the wind was blowing harder than yet in the race so I decided to wait until I rounded the corner to hit it. I ended up closing in a 57 over the last 400 with the wind and got 4th overall in the race in a time of 8:02. With a PR of 7:46 the time was pretty disappointing, however considering the conditions and the breakdown of the race, it was a good competition for me. This is where I have been struggling a bit this year, and it was good for me to compete well against who I was running with, and have a strong decisive finish. All in all it was very ok; and I earned 300 Euro in prize money so I couldn’t be too disappointed.
The Post-Meet Reception
We got back to the dorms after the meet, showered up, and were bussed to a very nice hotel about 15 minutes out of town for a closing reception of sorts for the meet. There were authentic Irish dancers performing as we arrived in the dining room with formal dining tables set surrounding the room. We had a great 5 course meal, a few glasses of wine, and a few Guinness’ as well, because you can’t go to Ireland and not get a Guinness, right? After a presentation by the City Sports President, the Lord Mayor again, and the sponsors of the meet, we headed back to the dorms to pack up and get some sleep before taking off the next day for the next meet in Belgium…
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