KIMbia Athletics

Tim Nelson and Sean Quigeley ran personal bests for 3,000m at today’s Grand Prix meet in London. Tim ran 7:48.87, and Sean was close behind in 7:50.02.

Tim and Sean laid off the opening pace of the front pack and move up nicely at the end, with Tim finishing first among the members of the chase pack. He was 7th overall, which we’re mentioning partly so that we can point out that 8th overall with Britain’s Scot Overall. Sean was 9th.

Results are here.

The soon-to-be-ex men from Madison start the first part of their European tour, and as you can see from these photos, they are ready to roll, and then some.

Chris Solinsky opens tomorrow with a 5,000m in Heusden, Belgium. Matt Tegenkamp follows that up with a 3,000m in Stockholm, Sweden on Tuesday the 22nd. Tim Nelson and Sean Quigley have a 3,000m of their own on te 26th in Oordegem, Belgium.

As he has during past European outings, Teg will be filing periodic dispatches. Curious about something? Use the e-mail friendly version of askteg [AT] kimbia [DOT] net to send our latest Olympian your questions.

With the Olympic Trials already starting to seem like a distant memory, let’s check in with our friends who competed there. First up is Tim Nelson, 10th in the 10,000m in 28:29.95. Tim will be among those moving from Madison, Wisconsin to Portland, Oregon in early fall:

I left for Belgium on July 9 to run a 1500 tune-up at Ghent. [Tim placed 3rd in 3:43.52.] The following weekend (July 20th) I plan to run the 5000 at Heusden. The next weekend (July 26th) I may run the 3000 at Oordegem. Those are all the European races we have in mind for the moment. I’m planing to stick around in Europe for a few more days and go visit the significant lady-friend in my life who is in France for a summer study abroad program.

On August 10th I plan to run the Falmouth Road Race in Massachusetts. After that, things are a bit more uncertain. I hope to do more road races into the fall and perhaps a half marathon at some point. We’ll just have to wait and see how things are going.

Listen to Chris talk about life on the European circuit in this podcast at RunningTimes.com. The podcast is a supplement to an article Matt Taylor wrote featuring Chris, Matt Tegenkamp, Michelle Sikes, Simon Bairu and Tim Nelson in the magazine’s July/August issue.

Lots of fast times last night at Ridgemont High Stanford University. The KIMbia take:

Not sure why, but the men’s A 1500m race was split in two sections. Matt Tegenkamp won his section in 3:40.04 over, among others, Chris Lukezic. Chris Solinsky was in the other section and ran 3:43.59 in a race that Kevin Sullivan won in 3:39.75. Now, 3:43 might not seem all that impressive, but given that Chris fell during the race and got gashed up similar to last summer in Stockholm, we think it’s pretty darn good.

In the fast heat of the 5,000m, James Carney lowered his PR to 13:31.62 in his first track race of the year. Tim Nelson also ran well, posting a 13:38.78. Simon Bairu ran 13:46.75 in the same race.

Fasil Bizuneh won the glass-half-full/glass-half-empty award in the fast heat of the 10,000m. He smashed his former PR by running 27:50.48. But oh, that .48 of a second, as the Olympic A standard is 27:50.00.

Videos and full results here.

Then Kimbia would have taken the team title. (Well, if scoring was 4 deep.)

This morning in Central Park, Jason Hartmann, James Carney, Fasil Bizuneh and Tim Nelson took 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th, respectively, at the U.S. 8K championships. Jason ran 22:48 to finish 6 seconds behind winner Jorge Torres and Andrew Carlson. James and Fasil were also in the lead pack that went through 5K in 14:10. James finished in 22:53, Fasil in 23:03.

Tim was the top finisher from the chase pack, closing well after splitting 14:22 at 5K to finish in 23:05.

Results | Post-race video of Fasil

Tim Nelson returned to competition this morning at the national 8K championship in Central Park. Here’s what he had to say for himself last night.

Falmouth was your first road race as a pro. What have you been up to since then?

I headed to Kenya for 3 1/2 months for a study abroad program, which also allowed me an opportunity to do some pretty intense training with some of the Kimbia guys in Iten. I took classes in Nairobi for the first 7 weeks, then did a 6-week “internship,” in which I hung around at the Singore Girls School with Coach Kipchumba, shadowing him during practice. I also help lead some core and stability strengthening sessions with the girls, but many of the girls were better at the exercises that I was since they had learned them at Brother Colm O’Connell’s camp. So I was pretty much there for the experience and the training.

At noon on Saturday, you’ll be satisfied with your race at the Central Park 8K if…

…I place in the top five or otherwise run a “good” race. It is difficult to set goals or limitations since I haven’t raced in about six months. But I definitely want to get in the mix of the likes of Webb and Carlson and see what I can do.

What else are you racing between now and Olympic Trials?

I will be at the Stanford meet on April 4th, running the 5K. Then I hope to go for the Olympic A standard in the 10K at the Cardinal Invitational on May 4th. That’s all I’ve got right now.

Have you incorporated into your routine anything you learned or observed in Kenya?

Well, the most important things I learned in Kenya don’t seem to have a lot to do with running. In some ways I learned more about myself and how I am different as an American than I did about running. But I also saw how the unique culture in Kenya plays into developing amazing distance runners: the value for hard work and the unmatched focus that the Singore girls shared was inspirational in itself. The most important thing I learned is that there really isn’t a “secret” explaining why many Kenyans excel in distance running. From my experience, I would say that many Kenyans simply work harder and have a stronger motivation to work harder than most American distance runners.

You mentioned homework. Of what sort?

I’m finishing up my 5th year here at UW-Madison (it feels good to almost be done!). I’m taking 14 easy credits, 6 of which I need to graduate with a degree in Communication Arts: Radio, TV, Film. The other classes are just for fun: second semester Swahili and African International Relations. I’m enjoying it. It only took five years, but I think I finally enjoy school.