2021 Prefontaine Classic

Ok, sports fans….

The Prefontaine Classic is possibly the best one-day track meet in the world. Normally held in June, this Covid/Olympic year does a Vitamix job on the schedule, so it’s now on the books for August. 

I’m asked to be Chief Umpire this time. Instead of minding my 50 yards of the track, i have to organize and account for 12 officials. Finding out who is available for the meet is the easiest part: this is a fun event  to attend, so pretty much everyone wants in. 

But then I have to figure out who goes where, for which events…

A lot of that scribble is highly classified code for “keep your eyes open and look as invisible as possible.”

Seriously, this is a great meet, especially because there were something like 60+ Olympic medalists showing up. There must have been a nice budget for appearance money. And since this is mostly a pro meet, the incidence of fouls and malfeasance is usually very low. 

Since I’m now working out of Seattle, I have to fly to Eugene, then hitch a ride to Bend after the meet so i can have a few days poaching in the hot tub before I fly back. Kinda fun jumping thru the airport regularly!

Friday noon, everyone is trying to get to Eugene, and the plane is packed. I’m wearing the appropriate gear: my Drake (Iowa) Relays polo, courtesy of my man Suds. 

#Traitor

How come no one else on the plane has these? 

First time I’ve ever had boxed water…

I’ll Uber from the Eugene airport into town, right? Nope. Uber is charging $50 and has a 45 minute wait. Meanwhile, I’m important and need to get my act together. 

Then I notice this….

A lonely driver with no one to talk to. He’s going to the main hotel downtown, and mine is closer to the track. Since he has no other takers, I ask if I can hitch a ride. He says sure and we take off. 

As we pull in downtown, he points out another shuttle going to the track, very close to my accommodations. I thank him and hustle thru the hotel lobby. 

First person I see? Craig Engels, a brutal 4th place at the Trials 1500. His face two months ago, after realizing he just got spanked by a couple of college kids…

I jump on the second shuttle, a full size coach bus. No one else onboard. I ask the driver if she can possibly drive 3 blocks past the track and drop me at my hotel. She says, “You were never on this bus.”

What bus? 

I arrive at the hotel an hour before check-in. So I politely ask if somehow I can get into a room now, because, you know, I’m kind of a big deal. “Oh absolutely, Mr Campbell.”

Never hurts to ask.  Three simple questions, three answers in the affirmative. 

Home again!!

Nice light show from the Tower…

Section 109 is severely lacking…this is where RJ, Joanie, and the Peanut Gallery were stationed during the Olympic Trials. #NotTheSame

This meet is a two day event, Friday nite and the main deal on Saturday with international TV. 

Friday nite: my man Craig Engels takes the lead in the mile coming off the last turn and starts waving at the crowd. Too soon, my man; he gets pinched in the last 20m and looks like a fool, but at least he laughs about it. 

The track has a dynamic light system on the inner rail that we use to pace the runners to a world record attempt at the women’s 5000. Sifan Hassan just completed a historic triple at the Olympics, with two gold and a bronze. Now she tries for an alltime mark, but clearly is tired from a long year. Still an impressive time. 

I’m doing my best to watch the officials and not the races, so i don’t sneak a peak at the women’s steeplechase until the final stretch. The winner is cruising well under 9 minutes, and Courtney F is not far behind. When she sees the clock with 15m to go, it’s party time for the first American to break that barrier.  Everyone thought Emma would be the first, but Courtney clearly wins in the ‘celebration’ category. Pure joy. 

Noah shakes off the Tokyo funk in the 200m and rocks the house. But where is the high school kid from Tampa who placed third in the Trials? Guessing he’s at band camp with a juice box in his backpack. 

Women’s 100. Sigh….Sha’Carri made quite a splash at the Trials and with her very admirable admission about the pot use. Today would have set her up for life had she run well. Instead, she went backwards in the race, and farther backwards in the interviews. Then she disses a very supportive Allyson Felix. Bad career move…git yourself a PR person and pay attention. #OpportunityLost

Women’s 800….it’s all Mu, all the time. Trenton NJ’s best prospect since Pork Roll comes into town with her two Olympic Golds and leaves with another record. She left A&M after one year; her Nike signing bonus alone set her family up for life. You go, girl…….and Sha’Carri could learn MUCH about public relations from Athing. 

Men’s Shot Put. So fun to watch these behemoths. Just good guys. Except their victory laps are measured with a calendar, not a stopwatch. 

And the Nordic One, the kid from Norway, runs a Bowerman Mile record, the fastest on American soil, and made it look easy. I think we all need some more lutefisk in our diet. 

Folks in the know are saying this was the best one-day meet in history. 

I’m not arguing. 

Olympic Bound

Ok, so it’s the Olympic Mountains, not the Olympics in Tokyo. 

Sue me. 

Taking a commuting job in Seattle (actually Bothell). The terms allow me to jump back and forth between the job and my Bend home. 

#BestOfBothWorlds

This first trip is a serious stroll down Nostalgia Lane. 30 years ago, I’m a young and bulletproof Naval Nuclear Officer working on a Bremerton shipyard project to refuel two nuclear reactors. Today’s goal is to travel to Bremerton and see the first house I ever bought. And to make the trip on this bad boy…

I buy a used Specialized Rockhopper in 1990 and commute the 10 miles each way from my house, many times in a cold driving rain. A decade later, when the paint and decals are peeling, i have the bike sandblasted and gussied up. The bike artist dips chopsticks into neon paint and drizzles it along the frame. 

So badass (rare for me). And those pictures are taken yesterday; that 31 year old bike has been all over the country and is still kicking. The handlebars? I fly over them in October 1990 when I t-bone someone on the shipyard pier while riding too close to buildings, probably the start of my back problems (and three surgeries). I also remember riding thru a puddle (ok, a lake) in the shipyard and finding out the hard way that there are railroad tracks under the water. 

The goal is to ride that bike from the ferry to my first ever home purchase and bike, re-creating the commute I do so many times in the Navy. 

Waiting for the boat to arrive in downtown Seattle…

Yikes….this view makes me twitch. Two years there, deep in the ship’s basement, trying to stay awake for 0300 testing with a black coffee in one hand and a Mountain Dew in the other. 

Bremerton has changed. Condos everywhere!

From up above the shipyard…

Every morning thru this gate…

I jump on my trusty steed and ride. Given that the previous month was, oh, a bit busy, my fitness is lacking. But an easy 20 mile round trip is no big deal, right? 

My house is at the top of Bucklin Hill Road. As in ‘HILL.’ My preacher dad would say, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.” I remember a climb, but this is now an elevator shaft. And my bike is steel, as in ‘heavy.’

One VA loan later, and I buy this fortress on Mt St Helens Day, 1990. Lots of parties in that beast. Unfortunately, the new owners care less about the lawn health than i ever did. 

On the way back, i meet Jim. He was a Navy liason back in the day when Navy Runner Ron was about to leave the service and pursue his Olympic dreams. Jim convinced an admiral to give Ron an easy job that would provide training time. It works; in 1996, Ron takes 3rd in the Olympic Trials. 

Jim also has coached runners and triathletes….like Navy’s Tim O’Donnell, who placed 2nd in the Hawaii Ironman. Steve, I thought you’d like that tidbit. 

And his stories about watching track workouts at Georgetown in the mid-90s, with the coach dropping F-Bombs on Ron and his boys while greeting the Catholic priest dean of the college in mid-diatribe. 

I hustle back to catch the ferry, all while on very dead legs. Need to get my mileage back up. 

The obligatory Space Needle shot…

Nightfall over Lake Union…

Also caught up with my man Sean, a classmate at Navy. Ever since my one and only Navy reunion 4 years ago, I’m having a blast reconnecting with old friends and making new ones that I never knew at school. 

Nothing like a change of pace to get the adrenaline flowing again. 

Olympic Trials Day 8

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Final day. It’s been quite a trip. Quite a month, actually. 

Last time for this craziness. Probably 8 tests done. 

Carson Hall has some serious portobello game today. 

A little concerned about the yogurt flavors today….Jalapeno? Sour Cream? Pico de Gallo? 

The food choices were generally pretty good. Today, they pegged the meter: Cuban sandos!

Men’s 5000m final is moved to the morning’s ice cold 87 degree temperatures. Once again, RJ catches the victory lap….with two world class Blondie photobombs. 

The least crowded I’ve seen the dining hall in 10 days…

This shot doesn’t show how un-frosty-like it was out there. 

The steadicam, all 65 pounds and $35,000, hangs off the camera dude’s vest. His upper body supports the weight, not his right arm, and gets perfectly level as he walks along the track. 

Like George Washington sang in ‘Hamilton’: One last time. 

Maybe not…..Sunday’s track events are postponed due to the Mercury-like heat. I make the quick decision to bail out and go home, early morning meetings (we’re talking 0530). Ron and Joan concur, and we’re quickly on the road. 

After we unpack in Bend, I sign up for NBCSN streaming, and we watch the events at 9pm local time. 

400m hurdles, and a world record. Do I tell you now that my hometown is 15 miles from Sydney’s, so I deserve some credit? She didn’t take a sliver out of the previous record, she did some Cookie Monster chewing on it. 

800m. Athing Mu is here to stay. Raevyn Rogers has her likeness on that cool stadium tower, and she was squinting to see Mu’s heels. That girl does not fade. 

1500m. UO’s Hocker is buried and boxed with a lap to go. He does his best Nick Symmonds impression (turning sideways to bust thru a hole), then accelerates like the Space Shuttle when he’s 120m from the line. Boom, just a remarkable step change in velocity. He runs down reigning Olympic Champ Centro, and when has THAT ever happened? The crowd goes bananas, rightfully so. 

200m…a 17 yr old boy from Tampa runs his skinny little behind onto the Olympic Team. Tish and Steve, what do y’all have in the water down there? 

Back at the house, Zoe stops by to meet the gang…

Monday morning 0500 coffee tastes great with the right company

RJ has our class logo prominently displayed on his trusty steed. 

Noticed my perennials finally waking up…

RJ underway, back to San Dog. 

We did a combined load of laundry, and I can’t find mine afterward….oh, RJ folded all of it. Seriously?  There are good house guests, there are great ones, and then there are RJ and Joan. 

Final thought….

I thrive on seeing people doing what they are born to do, the ease and efficiency while producing at full output. For two years now, I looked forward to this event, and one big reason was to see my two Olympian friends in their element, seeing their old friends, soaking in an environment they hadn’t experienced in decades. 

Joan was thrilled to see teammates from her youth, coaches she knew, and she met some fans she never knew she had. 

RJ? Well, as his college coach once asked, “Ronnie, who’s the center of attention when you’re sleeping?” I knew of Ron in college but never knew him personally until 4 years ago. I spent years imagining him walking around Hayward Field like he is the Mayor of Track Town, and I wasn’t disappointed. Every time i walk down the backstretch, he and his boys and girls (all former pro runners) are talking smack to me, the next section, the runners, the homestretch fans, the track announcer….there was much howling and glee and hijinks. At Taco Tuesday, Ron is manning the grill and killing it. 

Logistically, a pandemic takes its toll on events like this. Thankfully, none of us have been sick or otherwise afflicted. After all the twists and turns, we made it happen, and we hit it out of the park. 

I expected nothing less. 

Until next year….Track Hack out. 

Olympic Trials Day 7

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Definitely in the homestretch now. 

Found a great picture book about Hayward Field; in it, a nice shot about fellow umpire Grace, one of UO’s most decorated runners (with a penchant for the unconventional). 

Walking onto the track, we see ESPN’s Mike Tirico doing a promo. I yell, ‘Hey Mike!’ Not sure if that made it into the camera shot. 

Several times throughout the meet, I am asked questions about meet management and clerking by officials I don’t know. Several times throughout the meet, Starting Line Clerk Anthony is asked similar questions about umpiring. I’m not sure what’s going on here…

Good swag….unfortunately, not free for umpires. 

What makes the (track) world go round? Nike founder Phil Knight’s checkbook. This meet doesn’t happen without his $275m stadium. Thanks, Uncle Phil.

From my classmate Duncan: 

Me giving rowdy backstretch spectators the stink-eye…

The temperature is straight out of Dante’s Inferno. Here’s High Jump official (and great guy) James, whose level of thinking is clearly high above my own: 

RJ with some great victory lap shots: 

110HH: Grant Holloway is 0.01 second off the world record. I was behind the starting block, and saw a buttery smooth race with amazing power. He cleared each hurdle by a millimeter. 

400m hurdler Rai Benjamin puts a big scare into Kevin Young’s 29 year old world record with a 46.83.  

Long jumper Tara Davis with her effervescent smile. 

Harvard’s Gabby Thomas runs the second fastest 200m ever, ‘moving past Marion Jones.’  Yeah, convicted doper. And FloJo’s record is probably doped as well….so let’s hear it for the Ivy League!

A 17 yr old from Tampa wins his own 200m semi while looking like a model for juice boxes. Trish and Steve, what’s in the water down there?

Shot Put WR holder Ryan Crouser. He is a big, big man!

One more day. Sad Panda…