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Chris Mueller

Rubbing shoulders with Giants.

Updated: Aug 25

Known as "the fastest mile at 7,000 feet," the Flagstaff Downtown Mile is a two-loop race along part of the 4th of July Parade route, kicking off the Independence Day festivities. The seven-heat race started at 6:30 am on July 4th with the Masters (age > 40) Men group, followed by the Masters (age > 40) Women. Next were the Men and then Women citizens groups. The Men Elite and Women Elite groups followed, and the finale was the Youth (<12) group. According to the AZ Daily Sun, around 1,100 participants joined the race.


It was a great opportunity to test your speed alongside current and former professional runners as well as very fast recreational athletes. Betsy ran her mile in 7:23, earning her 24th place out of 92 female Masters runners and 22nd place out of 50 women in the 40-49 year-old age group!! The winners of the Elite Men and Elite Women groups were each awarded $1,000 (in a desirable giant check form). Eleven Elite women participated, with the fastest time being 4:44 and the slowest elite runner completing the mile in 5:33. Thirty Elite Men runners also competed, with the majority finishing in under 5 minutes, and the winner running it in 4:08, breaking the previous course record by 1 second. For full event results, click HERE.






Betsy and I also attended a session of "Live from Dream Run Camp", where Tebello Ramakongoana was interviewed. His 2:09:57 time in the World Athletics Championship Marathon race in Budapest in September 2023 earned him a spot in the Marathon race at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He will be representing his home country of Lesotho, a small country in Southern Africa.


Tebello has been training in Flagstaff since March 2024 with his coach, James McKirdy of McKirdy Trained, along with other McKirdy-trained athletes. James also participated in the interview. James and Tebello met in Eugene, Oregon, where Tebello had come to compete in the 2022 World Athletics Championship. After traveling 36 hours from Lesotho and having his luggage lost by the airline, Tebello was given the incorrect room number at the hotel. He found himself trying to enter the room James was occupying, it was near midnight.


James answered the door and, in short, ended up helping Tebello obtain the items he would need to successfully compete in the marathon (a story better told by the video which can be seen HERE). Tebello finished 35th at the race with a time of 2:12:35, but wanted much more for himself. Over the next week, he and James bonded, and ultimately, Tebello asked James to coach him. James was happy to accept.


James has high hopes for Tebello in the Paris games. To paraphrase James, Tebello excels at running uphill, and the course in Paris has a lot of elevation. Tebello also hadn't had the benefit of training with others and being pushed, which his time in Flagstaff has provided. Tebello hopes to Medal in the race. After that, he aims to return next year and start training to win the Boston Marathon!


After the interview (and off camera) I asked Tebello what drives him to "push" during the race, to keep running at high speeds for these long distances. "I know there will be pain" he said as he pressed his palm on his chest. "But I know everyone else will be feeling pain too".


I thought this was awesome!!


I immediately asked him to repeat it to Betsy. Writing and reading it back now still stirs my emotions. It seems so powerful, and so simple.


I have previously written about my curiosity regarding what motivates people to accomplish extraordinary feats (see blog "Inspriation and Bloodied heels" for a list of motivations). This is the first time that I can recall someone normalizing the suffering. He doesn't battle it or try to ignore it; he accepts it, and moves on.


We wish Tebello the best of luck and Paris and beyond. We also look forward to seeing him around.



Betsy, Tebello and Me

Betsy continues to train, had a drop in mileage due to sore knee (more on next post) mileage for the week was 21.


Until next time....


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Loved this post. I enjoyed Tebello’s response about pushing through the pain. I will be using his wisdom as inspiration!!

💜

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