I talked to Tegenkamp, Solinsky, Lomong, Abdi, Riley, and Symmonds, among others, last night while we were chilling at Renny's in Eugene.
Teg is just being cautious, he said! He's fit and his hamstring isn't too bad; but why take the risk when the Trials are coming up soon?
Teg also said the wind was crazy-bad in Hengelo, and that's why his time was slower than expected. I mentioned that if Bekele was running barely under 13 minutes then he (Teg) must be in about 13:14 shape. He agreed, but didn't comment further. He is a most mellow guy!
Solinsky was quite happy with his performance in the 2-mile and said he hasn't done speedwork and should be much quicker at the Trials. He commented the time would have been better had Mottram not slowed so much when he took the lead.
Note: I thought Ryan Bak did a good job of pacing. He and Brad Hudson said the night before at The Eugene Running Company that Ryan was supposed to lead through 1200m in 3 flat. That's about what he did!
Abdi was Abdi - a fun-loving dude! We drank some pints, talked training, goofed around and had a great time.
Lopez was my pool-partner (billards), and he's actually a good player. I was impressed with he friendliness and his memory of people's names.
Jonathan Riley is a funny guy who is about as Average-Joe as once get - except for his runniing ability, of course! You'd never know he was an elite runner. He's modes as can be!
Symmonds is one heck of a competitor and loves the 800m, he said, because it's rough; you gotta deal with the pushing and shoving and be hard-core, is what he basically said. I asked him if he knew there was a guy on his heels that tripped on the last curve and he said he didn't know about it. After watching him compete, like a pit-bull, I'd have to say he was so focused on the pursuit of winning that little things like someone tripping was not going to register in his mind. Maybe that's why he's one of the best, and it is not just his physical talent?
By the way, the Oregon Track Club guys and gals are very cool people. They work hard, play hard!
Tinman