Back on Track

By Lee Juillerat
Not everyone competing at the Olympic Trials is trying for a ticket to Beijing. Some are just thrilled to have a ticket to run.

In a race that's not included on all the schedules, Damien Baldovino and 15 other master's runners - age 40 and older -will be shooting for their 15 minutes of fame on the Hayward Field track in a special exhibition 3000 meters run. It's an opportunity for speedsters like Baldovino, the only entry from Oregon, to show their stuff in a race that begins at 7:05 p.m.

"I never thought I'd qualify for a meet like this," Baldovino says with the winsome mix of humility and gee-whiz. "I'm a little nervous because I don't specialize in running on a track. This was kind of a spur of the moment, jump into it thing to see if I could qualify."

Unlike most of the Trials runners who are sponsored by Adidas, Reebok, Nike or other running shoe companies, or who are college athletes, Baldovino and the others are working, family guys with jobs. Baldovino, who's 41, is a lineman with Pacific Power & Light in Lakeview, a charming but definitely blue collar town of about 2,000 people in southeastern Oregon. He prefers running on roads, especially at longer distances. He thinks he's best suited for half-marathons, or 13.1 miles, and his fastest marathon time is 2 hours and 30 minutes - a time he says could and should have been faster. He qualified for tonight's race in 9:00:38 in a race with no serious competition, the 10th best time. With seven of the 16 having times between 8:59 and 9:01, it could make for some thrilling competition- "All in all it should be a really close race." And fun to watch.

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Want to trim .02 off your personal best for the 100 meters? Make the U.S. Olympic Team and run in the sprints in one of the neato, high-tech engineering speed suits. According to spokesmen for Nike, the company that's spent eight years designing and engineering clothing for the 2008 games in Beijing, the speed suits are 7 percent lighter than those used in Athens, Greece, four years ago, which translates to .02 of a second. And while that may not sound like much, in the 100 and 200, that can be the difference between a medal and just a good race.

Nike is showing off their new gear, including a variety of running shoes that weigh as little as 90 grams, during the Olympic Trials. Before Thursday night's final event, those who had already qualified paraded around Hayward Fields in their new outfits, which include options for sprinters, distance runners and shot putters/discus tossers/javelin hurlers. Available, too, are sleeves with a series of dimples, like those on golf balls. that can be worn on a runner's arms. Based on Nike's studies, the sleeves create less drag than a runner's skin and, again, produce faster times.

The gear is good to look at, with the blue (or obsidian) jersey featuring the letters USA in bright red. The back includes part of the "We the People" graphic that's featured in greater detail on black on white gear worn by Nike runners in the 5K, described as "an artistic interpretation and culmination of culture in the United States," featuring the torch held by Lady Liberty along with a bleeding heart that symbolizes Latino cultures, American Indian themes and, like a Bev Doolittle painting, the letters, 1776.

The uniforms were designed with input from runners and throwers - "If they feel comfortable thy feel better and they'll all do better," I was told. And, yes, the high-tech appearance is something out of a summer blockbuster because, "They wanted to feel like superheroes."
Here's hoping the near Olympic gear helps the U.S. produce a summer blockbuster in Beijing.