Reflections on a first Olympic Trials
From GRP Runner Mitchell Black
Mitchell sporting the GRP x Tracksmith uniform, running on the outside of the pack.
Like so many other athletes, making the Olympic Trials had been at the top of my list of running goals for a while. In my case, a while meant over six years. After improving from 1:59 to 1:50 in the 800m during my first year at Tufts University (2012-2013), it was something I felt was very much within the realm of possibility for 2016. But it turned out not to be in the realm of reality — in fact, I was not particularly close to qualifying. Fast-forward four years to 2020 and you would find me doing much more studying than running, preparing for my PhD Candidacy qualifying exams to be held in May of that year. I was fully prepared to watch another Olympic cycle come and go without so much as toeing the start line in hopes of hitting an OTQ. But we all know what happened next. I sometimes wonder, how many doors were opened and how many windows shut? Well, at least one door swung open.
But first, a Harry Potter reference. I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself an HP fanatic, but I have visited Disney's Harry Potter world on several occasions, so the references come fairly easily. Remember how easy it was for Harry to reach the center of the maze in The Goblet of Fire? How young Barty Jr. posing as Mad-Eye Moody blasted obstacle after obstacle out of Harry’s way? Looking back on my road to Eugene, I feel that there exist parallels between mine and Harry’s experiences — though I did not later have to escape imprisonment from a murderous psychopath. To be clear, I am in no way seeking to diminish what I perceive to be a tremendous accomplishment in my running at the US Olympic Trials, one of which I am admittedly quite proud. Rather, I feel extremely grateful that the events which led me there transpired the way they did and am only acknowledging the initial improbability of my trajectory. For starters, had the Olympics taken place as scheduled in 2020 I would not have been at the Trials. That is indisputable. Next, if Tracksmith had not made the decision to support aspiring Trials competitors I seriously doubt that I would have had the motivation and self-discipline to train at a high level this year. Combine their support with the creation of the GRP Run team, the flexibility of being a graduate student, my Very Nice training partners in Ann Arbor, and the everlasting youth of Coach Ron Warhurst and you finally have a more complete picture of what has gone my way over the last year. Even with a strong support network and all my hours of hard work, it wasn’t until Tuesday June 15th that my entry of 1:47.43, the time I had run 4 days prior at a last chance meet in Coatesville, PA, was officially accepted thanks to two scratches from the 800m field. On Tuesday, June 15th, I became the 32nd entry in the field of 32. On Tuesday, June 15th, I was going to the Trials.
Think about how much time and energy goes into training for a race. Whether you’re racing for 2 minutes or 2 hours, you have probably spent months preparing. The race itself is fleeting, almost a dream. The gun goes off. You’re in a sea of bodies. Legs are spinning. Maybe the roar of a crowd, maybe just the steady rhythm of lungs hard at work. Then comes the pain, and finally it ends and you’re left wondering whether it even happened. The Trials was no different. My first view from inside Hayward Field occurred 120 seconds before my gun time. I took a moment to look around, to recognize that this was the biggest stage on which I had ever, and may ever, compete. The track felt elastic, which I like. When I was introduced I smiled meekly and gave a short wave. Had it crossed my mind once that I would be introduced in such a fashion I might have prepared a more interesting response. I think the crowd quieted when the starter called runners to your marks only to have us back away again. I think. Like I said, it feels like it never happened. But the gun went back up. BANG.
GET OUT! That was the plan. Be in the top 4 at the 100m break. I might have been 5th, not bad. But I was too passive over the next 100m when all runners jockey for position. An aggressive move by a runner on my outside pinched me off from the pack, and suddenly I was in dead last. Not ideal. I knew that I needed to move up, so heading into the bell I made an aggressive move of my own to move from 8th to about 5th, running on the outside. 53 Mid at the bell. This is where I stayed on the next curve, 400m to 500m, and held position until 200m to go where I was again passed on the outside and found myself behind a wall of athletes ramping up for the finishing sprint. “Okay,” I thought, “I’ll save my kick until the last 100m and beat them to the line.” But the wall remained in place, and the door that had opened to admit me to the Trials swung shut on the homestretch. I faded in the last 50m to finish 7th in a time of 1:49.61. With the top 3 from each heat plus the next 4 fastest overall times advancing to the semi-final, any hopes of the remaining heats running slow and me sneaking into the next round were dashed when the next heat saw 4 runners break 1:46. After 1 minute and 49 seconds, my Trials experience as an athlete was officially over.
I thought that maybe I would leave feeling fulfilled — accomplishing a multiyear goal should have that effect, no? Quite the opposite, I’m even hungrier than before. The next few weeks will assuredly be busy while I catch up on PhD obligations, but I am looking forward to getting stronger, fitter, and faster so that I can be back at the US Championships next year. Whether the focus remains the 800m or shifts to 1500m remains to be seen, but I’ll be back in the GRP singlet sooner rather than later.
Mitchell (middle) post-race with GRP Run Coaches Jamie Norton and Michael Schmidt.