Tuesday morning, April 18, 2006

It is about 7 am and I get up for my walk through the Boston Commons. On my way down, I take Boylston street and the final dismantling of the Boston marathon finish is taking place. A few marathoners are walking around bravely, but slowly, most heading to a local coffee establishment.

The weather continues to be wonderful, a bit windy, but spring is here. The 110th Boston will be remembered not for the new record, which was wonderful, but for the re-emergence of American marathoners, who lead the world in the 70s and early 80s and then disappeared as a world force. With five runners in the top ten, six runners in top 11 and 16 of top 25, there are good signs in U.S. distance running, and that will be the message from Boston version 110.

Play by Play

If you want to see how the race developed, check out our coverage of the race, at www.runningnetwork.com, and look at Boston 06 coverage. Our web editor, Brenda Barrera, did a wonderful race photo gallery as well, with photos courtesy of Photorun!

Meb ran to win...

First, a few words on Meb Keflezighi and his race. Meb seemed a bit disappointed at the 10 am press conference, but he had nothing to feel bad about. He had challenged the best, learnt what Boston had to offer and challenge, and will come back to race another day. Robert Cheruiyut dropped out of the race in a past year before he man handled the course this year.

Meb and Bob Larson will reassess and figure out how to improve. In my mind, Meb is the type of athlete who will continue to win World Champ and Olympic medals, with his ability to race shrewdly and defensively. He let it all be risked today and he took third, not first. His wins will come, down the road.

Brian Sell and the big little secret: more than one American male can run a marathon!

Brian Sell improved nearly three minutes on his PR and is the big story of the race, with his team from Brooks-Hanson Distance Project. Clint Verran, Luke Humphreys and company, plus his other buddies are a real force in this sport. The brothers Hanson, two of the kindest and nicest guys in the sport do the following: a) know how to coach, b) had the guts, vision and tenacity to continue to bang on doors til they found a sponsor, c) hats off to Brooks Running shoes, who have the most important and valuable club sponsorship in our sport since Athletics West.

The truly scary thing is that Brooks Hanson is not unique. Mammoth, Monterrey, with Bob Sevene (who has some real surprises in his group), Nike Farm Team, Minnesota, and others are going back to what worked for Florida TC, Greater Boston Track Club, and virtually every national team doing well on the global front-- training together, supporting each other and looking long term.

This renaissance in U.S. distance running is in its infancy, and without careful support and nurturing, it can go away. We have runners that will continue to improve. In my mind, Brian Sell and company can go much faster. Wait til 2008.

John Hancock was there...

The truth is, without John Hancock Financial Services and their support of athletes through the Hancock seminar series and the BAA, Meb, Brian Sell, Alan and Clint Verran would not have had the chance and financial support to focus on this event. This chance to stay focused allows the athletes to relax and stay close to the task at hand, running well in Boston.

Way back in 1986, I sat in a press conference and listened one former Chairman of JH Financial Services, who said, "For about $3 million dollars, I own Boston for one day each year." We miss Mr. D, heck, I really miss the Sunday night parties...

Restaurant reviews

Okay, in Boston, you really have to screw up badly not to find a nice restaurant, but gentle readers, we at atf newswire would like to shed some light on a few gems:

a. Skipjacks. Great foot, super bar, and amazing sushi boat if you are feeding like half of the Boston field. Reasonable, good wine list, excellent beer list.

b. Smith & Wolenskys. Steakhouse, but with an editor who was a former wine merchant, the the wine list at S & M becomes a four star. On our last visit, our esteemed editor found the last two bottles of a fine Shiraz, at the human price of $28 per bottle. Steaks, Lamb, Tuna are great. Do not miss macaroni with truffles as a side, although creamed spinach was big winner. Bar has serious adult beverage rating, even has authors' licorice flavored drink, Pernod ( tell bartender, fill whiskey glass with ice, thumb of Pernod, water, pretend it has wormwood and you are Toulouse-Latrec).

c. Limoncello. 190 North Street, 617.523.4480, in north end, next to Paul Revere's house, this gem was what any marathoner would want the night before the marathon. Excellent pasta dishes, reasonably priced, and again, reasonably priced wines, with great value. Reservations are De rigeur, as big parties are treated well and our group received great service and the atmosphere was relaxed. This was the hit of the week among our group of travellers. The restaurant is named after the lemon-flavored Italian post-prandial drink, limoncello, which all good Italians or pretend Italians have in their fridges at home. ( To learn more about limoncello, rent the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun). Ask for Mauricizio Badolato, the owner when you go to Limoncello.

d. Piattini. 162 Columbus Avenue, 617-423-2021, a wine bar, this little gem was just a walk from the Hilton, and our little group was treated well. Outdoor seating, some excellent wines by the glass-Coppola Merlot 2000 to some hard to find Italian reds and whites. Service was great. The night we were there, a group of French and Italian actors were in attendence, so the place echoed with laughter in several languages. Seafood risotto, caprice salad were excellent choices.

Special thanks to Marathon Tours for their help and assistance for ten years now helping our crew with rooms and hotels during the Boston Marathon week!

Five Majors are making their mark

The Five major marathons had their debut on Monday and the uniforms added to the visuals. The idea of uniforms of the nations and footwear companies working together was championed by Dave Bedford from Flora London and Pat Lynch from John Hancock and Boston. Over the years companies talked of doing this, but until Bedford and Lynch put their combined charm fest together, it did not get done. The uniforms were announced on both events race sites and gave the fans something to use to personalize the athletes running, not just another fast marathoner, but Robert Cheruiyut, Benjamin Maiyo, or Meb Keflezighi.

and the awards for branding go to...

adidas should again be congratulated for the best branding of a major running event in North America. The signage is emotional, well executed and is understood by their key audience: the running consumer. Combine that with John Hancock street signs and you have a tastefully done race course.

The kid's races that adidas does on Saturday, where the school teams are cheered on by some of the top athletes in US--Carrie Tollefson, Jen Rhines, Tim Broe, Todd Williams--is a good event and even more important as we in the industry focus on getting the young kids involved in fitness activities.

Nike was again, king of the guerrilla wars, but it was a kinder, gentler swoosh. The buses offered to get runners off their feet and take them to Nike Town in order to put a new pair of 360s or Nike Frees on their feet. A retired cable car type truck was cemented across the street from Nike Town, offering shoes, bottles of water and swizzle sticks as enticements to purchase a shoe from the boys from Beaverton.

The expo was crazy busy. The World Trade Center is truly mobbed during my visit on Sunday, and there is not an uncrowded booth in the place. adidas booth is literally running out of product about four on Sunday.

The expo at the World Trade Center is near our favorite site for Running Network, BAA and New England runner race director parties, Anthony's Pier 4. About one hundred race directors showed up for our gathering, and a special thanks to Ashworth medals for co-sponsoring the event with RN. Watch for announcements of our other gatherings.

elite runners...medium, message...what does this mean?

adidas had a winner this year, with the women's winner, who was quite gracious but also quite brutal with her 5.06 23rd mile, something not seen in the women's race in the past.

Nike had the mens' top three, and Robert Cheruiyut paid a huge price for his courageous running from behind to take the race over and break a 12 year old course record. My only complaint about the new uniforms is that I could not read the footwear logos with my healthy eyes. A bit too small on the swoosh department.

In the unofficial footwear count, ASICS, Brooks, Saucony looked like the winners among the marathoners.

King of apparell is adidas. Not only did they nearly sell out, but I have seen adidas Boston gear in Finland, Germany, France, UK and all over the U.S. In fact, on my way to Boston, as I left my village of Cambridge, Wisconsin, with all of its one thousand and four soulds, I saw a runner heading up the main drag in his official Boston regalia from last year.

The Boston marathon is the dream of ALL marathoners, and the 15,000 marathoners who qualify here are the cream of the crop of the 600,000 plus marathoners in this country. I walked the expo a couple of years back with a branding consultant who about hyper ventalated thinking of the ways to promote BAA Boston and adidas around this sport....but it is not capitalized on outside of Boston weekend.

Yes, the Hanson brothers are nuts, but a really, really good nuts...

And, the most positive result of the weekend of all goes to... the Brooks- Hansons Distance Project for putting seven of their runners in the top 25 and showing that hard work, corporate support and a focus on Americans is good for the sport. The truth is, every major brand had a chance to sign these kids and Brooks took the plunge. Congrats to Jim Weber, President of Brooks, for sticking his proverbial neck out once again.

Several years ago, the Hanson brothers were dialing for dollars (translation: looking for a financial contribution, trying to find a sponsor, looking for Mr. Big bucks) and without much success. An article in my favorite newspaper ( Wall Street Journal), and Jim Weber went to work. Difference was, as it was discussed and discussed around the country, Brooks just took the step.

Secondly, check out the training. It is all about the chemistry, training and the confidence the runners have in their coaches and the brothers H are two of the best coaches in our sport, period. Consistent high mileage, good quality, confidence builders, working together, sell shoes, keep the runners from self immolating just thinking about running, that is part of the soup that the brothers from Michigan make. You can see it in their eyes and their conversations. They had a dream and instead of just whimping out, they made their dreams a reality!

Brooks-Hansons DP has been hugely supported by Carey Pinkowski and Mike Nishi at LaSalle Bank Chicago, and this year, John Hancock and the BAA brought in the team to Boston. I remember the guys running at Walt Disney World a couple of years back, and at the awards, they were swarmed by autograph seekers.

If the brands want distance running to grow in US, then support of the local teams has to be part of their global strategies. Want to change the way corporate America sees running? Make sure that American finishers move up the food chain at major U.S. events.

Brian Sell and the sideburns theory...

ATF is in possession of several photos of Mr. Sell's sideburns. We are also suggesting that there is a direct correlation between Brian Sell's performances and the length of his sideburns. When he has that Neil Young with Crazy Horse length (real long), he does real well. When the burns go short, well, he has had long side burns in Helsinki, in his half marathon performance, and at Boston. Coincidence? We at ATF think not. (Keith Hanson did ask us to keep this one to ourselves until AFTER the race).

So, where are the Olympic Trials going to be for the marathon? A one act play...

Hmmmm, beats me...maybe at a KOA campground. However, seems some legalese is stopping what should be a well received announcement on the Trials whereabouts. As usual, our little friends in Colorado Springs love to control those words, Olympic Trials. The thing is, those coffers in Colorado ONLY fill when U.S. gets more medals, and guess who is one of the largest contributors to those medals? U.S.A. Track & Field? Team U.S.? Are you shocked?

Secondly, what type of animal sacrifice is used in the decisions on not showing our Marathon Trials on real TV? Here is how I envision it: small barnyard animal is sacrificed, then Network sits down and someone says, "Hey, let's put dominoes on TV, heck we just got away with poker tournaments! That's like watching paint dry! America will love dominoes, forget about the Olympic Marathon Trials! People sweating on television? Uuugh. Next thing you willl tell me is that professional baseball players take steriods? Oh, who are you kidding?" (Sorry, digression).

How many Marathon Trials do inquiring minds have to miss on TV before the programming studs at Network whatever figure out that people actually watch marathons? There just has to be more marathon watchers than watch that paid programming on selling bad real estate for nothing down, as discussed by former wealthy guys now in jail in Florida (digression two). I know, get a large footwear company to underewrite the showing from 1 to 3 in the AM, so we can TIVO the darn thing.

I smell an Ipod broadcast.....does Steve Jobs like track and field? Jeremy Wariner, what is on your ipod?

Final thoughts on 06 running and our sport in general...

Boston 2006 shows that twenty years into the John Hancock sponsorship that JH saved the oldest marathon race in the world. The Five Majors is the next development in our sport, and American males can run marathons and be a huge factor on one of the toughest courses in the world. On to London!

In terms of the business, the $6.5 billion global running footwear business should see its best year ever, and all brands who focus on great product, support their staffs, support superior sales forces have a great chance for record years. The other suggestion is for brands to stop taking the local running stores for granted, who are responsible for the majority of the nearly $800 million in running footwear sales over $80. Running brands who do not invest in their staffs, in excellent sales teams in the field and who play with product to hit the big boxes will see what that lack of focus can bring.

The running footwear business is like lining up twelve sub four minute milers, with no rabbits and someone forces the pace. All have to challenge at some time or face losing the race. Right now, in 2006, product is king, and a company that has average product is dead. A company that can't keep its key staff from pasting resumes all over websites is also in trouble, and now, not paying attention to sales and marketing support in the fields means that local running stores will turn to another brand, no matter which brand it is. As the Australian band from the 70s, the Split Enz said, "History often repeats."

So, on that cautionary note, we head back to our offices in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, to approve a couple of magazines, and then, off to Flora London to see how Dave Bedford and his wonderful press crew (Nicola and Alice) do their jobs, and keep track of 40,000 plus runners. Updates from London starting on Saturday!

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Hey, Jeremy Wariner ran a 43.2 split last weekend, he told a group of writers, "It felt like about a 44.2." Wariner is off to Drake this weekend!

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Track and field is coming up. Penn, then adidas track Classic, Nike Prefontaine and Reebok NY Grand Prix. Is this a great sport or what?

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Music listened to on my itunes while writing this tonight: Suspicious Minds, Little sister, Dwight Yokum, Easter, Patti Smith Group, Velvet Underground, Gold, Eat a Peach, Allman brothers, Asleep at the Wheel, Arvo Part, Amboy Dukes, Deo Profundis, new favorite album -- Antony & the Johnsons, debut, new fave song -- Iggy Pop, Candy.

atf newswire is published by shooting star media, inc. , a proud member of the running network, LLC. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Published for the good of the sport.