Chris Solinsky's 26:59 turns 10 years old today. Share your memories here.

Well I may have missed Woodstock, but I was at PJ that night. Whata meet! There were 3 gillion heats of the 5000m and everyone and his dog was PRing that night. Stanford is a special venue indeed.

Some random thoughts ...

1. The public can actually run on that track. I did a few 800 reps during public time two days previous.

2. It was chilly by the end of the night. Great for racing, not so great for watching.

3. The Galen hype was over the top. Man that was satisfying to see him get the record, but burried at the end.

4. Simon B hung on and got the Canadian record. That was huge for me, but it was lost on the US crowd. I get that.

5. Holy crap, what a kick by Solinisky. That was amazing.

6. After 7 hours of non stop track, I tapped out right after that race. I skipped watching Heat 2 of the 10,000. I have no regrets.

Apart from Bisslet 1985 (3 world records in one night), that was the best meet I ever witnessed live.

I remember watching and reading about in on the internet. And here I am 10 years later, remembering it on the internet...

Wow, you're right, my brain must have condensed the memory a bit in the intervening time. Flotrack was the main source for streaming back then so I just assumed that's how we got the live stream at the time.

Also explains why I wasn't really aware of the significance of the time until after the race was over. I really was just rooting to see Rupp lose. I'm definitely not a hater anymore, but also not a fan. There's just nothing there to root for. If Solinsky were still in the game, he would probably be fun to root for.

Anyway, for irrefutably owning this libt@rd, you are hereby awarded 10 Freedom Points. You can trade these in to purge a black voter from the voter roles in the state of your choice. Or, if you save up 100, you can end Covid-19 lockdowns in your state of residence 1 day early. Use them wisely.

I don’t know why I feel compelled to share this, but I don’t think these personal attacks on Rupp are fully warranted. If you want to accuse him of doping, talk about that; what you’re alleging is likely true at least to some extent. But I believe he is a good guy at heart who is just very shy. I met him after he won the US 20k champs in New Haven and he was offering the “free beer” tag off his bib to a guy he got talking with. Like a lot of other runners, I think he’s just shy; probably why he isn’t on any social media platforms.

Of course he is a good guy. I doubt people can say that about Rojo who has some reason to belittle people, probably because he is such a little person and probably not a good guy.

Tenyearsofabuse wrote:

Of course he is a good guy. I doubt people can say that about Rojo who has some reason to belittle people, probably because he is such a little person and probably not a good guy.

why is he like this?

tin can man wrote:

2004 - 13:42 in 5k

2005 - 13:37 in 5k

2006 - 13:27 in 5k

2007 - 13:12 in 5k

2008 - 13:18 in 5k

2009 - 13:18 in 5k

2010 - 12:55 in 5k and 26:59 in 10k (first ever 10k - 13:34 then 13:24 for 5k splits)

suspicious to say the least

What's suspicious? From 2004 to 2007 he improved an average of 10 seocnds per year. From 2007 to 2010, he improved only an average of 4.25 seconds per year.

Good article by Gault.

Too bad that injuries/overtraining cut his career short - he could have run 12:50 or very close over 5000. Maybe even gotten a worlds or Olympic medal over 5 or 10 in a fast-pace race?

rojo wrote:

tin can man wrote:

2004 - 13:42 in 5k

2005 - 13:37 in 5k

2006 - 13:27 in 5k

2007 - 13:12 in 5k

2008 - 13:18 in 5k

2009 - 13:18 in 5k

2010 - 12:55 in 5k and 26:59 in 10k (first ever 10k - 13:34 then 13:24 for 5k splits)

suspicious to say the least

What's suspicious? From 2004 to 2007 he improved an average of 10 seocnds per year. From 2007 to 2010, he improved only an average of 4.25 seconds per year.

1. He hit a plateau for 3 years then all of a sudden drops 17 seconds off of his PR.

2. For two years he is stuck at around 13:20 then all of a sudden he splits 13:24 at the end of a 10k after a 13:34 first 5k.

3. In a year with no world championships and reduced drug testing.

4. First person over 6 feet tall and over 141 pounds to break 27 in a 10k. It was his first 10k ever.

Big Red wrote:

Too bad that injuries/overtraining cut his career short - he could have run 12:50 or very close over 5000. Maybe even gotten a worlds or Olympic medal over 5 or 10 in a fast-pace race?

Clearly a case of over training. In the article he says the hamstring was going to get hurt, if it wasn't tripping over his dog it was going to be something else.

Does Jerry deserve some responsibility for not holding him back? In retrospect his injury problems are not that surprising. Hammer the easy runs... doing more long intervals than the marathoners. Training at a 10, then upping it to 11 the next year.

It reminds me a lot of Alan Webb 2007

tin can man wrote:

got it for you wrote:

The article addresses this. Schumacher says he could see in training that Solinsky was fitter than the official times. Sometimes weird stuff happens and you don't race to how fit you think you are in a season. It's happened to me before.

Also - let's look at who are the sub-13 American born runners. Ritz, Rupp, Kennedy, Teg. All great talents from an early age who ran fast in high school, then college, then pros. Solinsky fits right in with that group as far as early talent and high school & college accomplishments. 7:36 for 3,000 meters at age 22 is freaking rolling. He had the pedigree.

Woody is the 5k oddball. Solinsky not as much.

Solinsky was running extremely high mileage at a very young age. His improvement is incredibly suspect considering that alone.

Not if you know anything about how training works

Very interesting case, such a large runner.

It’s often said that larger runners have to log more miles to get results; overtraining is always the danger. Derek Clayton seems so similar in that respect, his great marathons followed periods of injury where he was forced to train less.

got it for you wrote:

The article addresses this. Schumacher says he could see in training that Solinsky was fitter than the official times. Sometimes weird stuff happens and you don't race to how fit you think you are in a season. It's happened to me before.

Also - let's look at who are the sub-13 American born runners. Ritz, Rupp, Kennedy, Teg. All great talents from an early age who ran fast in high school, then college, then pros. Solinsky fits right in with that group as far as early talent and high school & college accomplishments. 7:36 for 3,000 meters at age 22 is freaking rolling. He had the pedigree.

Woody is the 5k oddball. Solinsky not as much.

Kincaid is the outlier when you compare him to Ritz, Rupp, Kennedy, Teg, and Solinsky, sure, but Kincaid was a legit HS runner and injuries sort of held him back in college and as a pro. However he was in mix late in race one year at NCAAs in 5K.

Kincaid ran sub 13:10 years ago indoors and was around 13:10 outdoors a few years before, too. While Kincaid running sub 13 outdoor was something of "whoa" when he did it, anybody who'd been following Kincaid would have known he had sub13 5K ability.

Either way, and not responding to you as much as to tincanman, calling Kincaid or Solinsky's progression suspicious is hardly rational or fair. They're elite runners who train in probably the best training group in country and race best national, international competition.

They're great runners /w great training and facing great competition. If they're stay healthy and in good mindset until they reach age peak, they're going to get better.

Great article! And, one of the best American race efforts ever.

Did anyone else come away from it thinking that if he didn't eat a crappy Little Caesar's pizza the day before, he might not have gotten a cramp in the middle of the race?! I know it was probably 24 hours before, but don't underestimate how terrible that pizza is!

Don't entertain the accusers. You guys did a nice job with the article. Solinsky should be the role model of every American kid. He is from middle class America and nowhere America and is not 5'9" and 130 pounds. Every high school coach should show this video as inspiration.

long sleeve shirt wrote:

tin can man wrote:

2004 - 13:42 in 5k

2005 - 13:37 in 5k

2006 - 13:27 in 5k

2007 - 13:12 in 5k

2008 - 13:18 in 5k

2009 - 13:18 in 5k

2010 - 12:55 in 5k and 26:59 in 10k (first ever 10k - 13:34 then 13:24 for 5k splits)

suspicious to say the least

Losing 10lbs and staying healthy can knock that 20 seconds off. I have the same dimensions as CS, the difference in my running/training at 172 lbs, vs 162 lbs is far more than 20 seconds over 5k.

I'm glad you and a couple of others are suspicious as well.

I find Tegenkamp and Solinsky to be highly suspect and that's not a popular opinion around here since Jerry's guys were always considered to be the good guys and anyone associated with Salazar were automatically condemned.

older not wiser wrote:

Don't entertain the accusers. You guys did a nice job with the article. Solinsky should be the role model of every American kid. He is from middle class America and nowhere America and is not 5'9" and 130 pounds. Every high school coach should show this video as inspiration.

Wrong answer. Every high school coach should show Rupps Atlanta Olympic Marathon comeback.

He came back from adversity and all that disdainful hate from the media about Salazar...hadnt raced in what, a year? 2 years?.....had major surgery which was a setback and mental hurdle. Had guys on the side of the road falsely accusing him of being a cheater....had 20+ guys on the starting line who would GLADLY beat him and take the throne away from him...waiting for him to have a bad day......were talkin really competitive guys like Fauble.......had a target on his back for being #1 and......the question was: could he maintain that status? Or would he choke under pressure? And make all of the naysayer dooshes happy?

Nope. Rupp smoked them. Greatest mental comeback ever.

Solinsky unfortunately is now in the mighty ducks category. Inspiring when youre about 7 years old.

True inspiration comes in the form of maturity and experience in the struggle and turmoil of real life, and succeeding in spite of that.

My memory is that, since this race, Rupp has become the undisputed top caucasian runner of the East African era. Three more Olympic teams and two Olympic medals.

Solinskly lives in Gainesville, FL.