An American Record

Finally. Finally. Finally. An American Record at the team trials. I was beginning to think it wasn’t going to happen. Leave it to a 36 year old woman to ‘just do it’. NIKE athlete Regina Jacobs ran 5000 meters in 14:45, and she did it alone as the other women were far behind. Jacobs has already made it on the 1500 team. The Stanford University cheering section went wild – Regina did her undergraduate work at Stanford – and they also had to cheer for several men in the 800 and 5000 tonight. (It’s called recruiting.) America’s best hope for a medal in the men’s 5000, Bob Kennedy, did not make the team.

Hey, guys… US Track & Field is in a sorry state. Get out your checkbooks; call you local school and Senator.

Other interesting events tonight – Blind 400 meters. Some of the athletes had enough vision they could run alone, but others needed a guide. Also, a 400 meter race for deaf men. No clapping allowed – when the winners were on the victory stand we shook our hands in the air. Lovely! Men’s hammer final was fun – Lance Deal won of course! He is a crowd favorite and gets a huge response (well, what other kind of response could a hammer thrower get???) from the fans. I can’t tell you how silly 300-pound men look standing on the award podium holding a bouquet of flowers.

To get into the NIKE center tonight, I was given an “ATHLETE” pass. I don’t think I fooled anyone.

We had a large cheering section tonight – the usual Jaqua clan, Brother Steve (attired in a 1975 NIKE T-shirt and wind shirt), Matt Wolff, Rudy Chapa and his family… very fun, seriously knowledgeable crowd. Beautiful evening too – it cooled-down a bit. We dined on Greek Salads and Challah (made by your faithful correspondent) while everyone else had to eat $7 hamburgers. We know how to live.

Report from Lisa: Last night, the local WNBA team, the Monarchs, gave Marion Jones a sky-box and she attended their game. (Marion played college b-ball.) Today, NIKE had Lisa drive to Arco Arena to deliver NIKE gift bags for each team member, along with tickets to the meet tonight. I tell you, Lisa knows Sacramento so well; she could drive a taxi in the town. Scored a poster of C.J. and Marion – signed by both athletes! Lisa thought her press conferences were over, but with the American record tonight, there will be a press conference tomorrow – so it’s back to work for our girl!

The boys left the track and headed out to Lincoln to play 18 holes at Twelve Bridges. Another 5 hour round. Ouch. Dinner back at Piatti’s. Steve brought two bottles of wine and we tried several new dishes. Lisa and Steve split the veal shank – it was enough food for a family of four – and I tried the “free form” lasagna. It was a lovely pasta dish, with a mild tomato sauce with herbs. Matt and Lisa had crème Brule – also a large portion.

Tomorrow is the last day – and the best day – of the trials. It is supposed to be 100 degrees and we will be sitting in the sun from 2-6:00 p.m. This schedule is for NBC – not for the athletes.