The Hustle — racing and killing the time
Matthew Sonnenfeldt continues his journey from Olympic Trials around the European track circuit
Italy is a beautiful place. It was a new country for me and with that, came a new experience. Unfortunately, it had to end. We’ve made the two hour drive through wine country to Milan and as we ascend north to Dublin, Ireland for the Morton Games on July 22nd, it’s easy to be a little sad to leave. Like I pointed out in my last post, Giampolo, the meet director, is spectacular, and together with his team, he took of our athletes (and me!) well beyond expectations. Every meal was taken care of, transportation between Lignano & Padova, any change needed — made, all in a relaxed nonchalant attitude you could only get from a true Italian. As Giampolo would continually tell me, “It’s Okay.” And it was. We sent the majority of our athletes interested in racing post Olympic Trials to these two meets, and the vast majority were rewarded with results and an experience.
The Results
Lignano was on July 13th. It was meant to be more of a rust-buster for the people who could get out of Eugene early enough, and we had some very promising results. Heather Kampf ran 2:01.26 — looking smooth like flying overseas had no effect on her, and Stephanie Schappert also ran a near PR after in 2:03.80. Meanwhile, in the men’s 800m, Shaquille Walker ran a solid 1:47.16. A good start to the campaign
An hour and a half drive west, Padova was the second meet on July 18th. It was set up to be fast with feel of a bigger meet, since it was being held at the stadium of Padova’s local football club. The 1500m fields were deep and the pace was hot in both races — resulting in some fast Europe times early on for our crew. Most notably, Eric Avila and Amanda Eccleston both came home with wins and PRs.
Mens 800
Shaquille Walker (1:46.86) 3rd
Womens 1500m
Amanda Eccleston (4:04.88 PR), Heather Kampf (4:05.31), Linden Hall (4:06.16), Stephanie Schappert (4:11.31) 1,2,3,5
Mens 1500m
Eric Avila (3:36.37), Kyle Merber (3:37.35), Johney Gregorek (3:37.58), Colby Alexander (3:37.68)-1,2,3,4
Lingnano, Italy.
The local Italian destination spot. The city is filled with roundabouts, gelato lovers, pizza joints, and speedos. When you arrive in Lignano, it feels less like Europe and more like a Florida beach vacation spot. Ocean float shop, after ocean float shop around every corner, with families of all shapes and sizes traveling inland to get a piece of the sunshine. The beaches are oddly categorized by countries. Each beach has a country’s flag and it’s an easy way to distinguish the beaches for locals and travelers alike. We were Germany on the west side.
Like any track meet, it’s hard to really absorb the city your meet is in with a race on the horizon, but you have to pass the time somehow. You can’t sit and do nothing at your hotel when you have an Italian beach outside your window. Europe helps push athletes out of the meet hotel more than in the States in that sense. Most of the days, the athletes will get up early and do their run. In Lignano, that meant getting up earlier than in Padova with the humidity and temperature well into the 90s. With races on the 13th, 18th, and 22nd, there’s not many intense workouts going on between races. Most are trying to stay sharp with easy runs and faster pick-ups or interval sessions of small workloads. When a run, free breakfast and maybe a pool session, are out of the way by noon, it leaves a lot of time to explore. While I was out looking for new clothes (my bag never arrived in Venice) or drinking unhealthy amounts of espresso, most of the athletes took walks on the beach or a casual stroll into town for gelato. We were lucky enough to be set up in a nice mom and pop hotel two blocks from the beach called the Hotel Smeraldo. With beautiful blue beaches and the mountains of east Italy as your backdrop, it’s hard not to get yourself out of the hotel.
Dinner was always at 7:30–10:00pm, and a seafood spread was always waiting for us to devour. This was how the first three days of the trip went for the athletes and myself. But believe it or not, there is work to be done during the meets on my end — more often than not accompanied by some caffeinated beverage. There is still travel to be booked and athletes schedules to be set up for August into September. Athletes are hungry for races as much as they’re hungry for Gelato. You always have to be one step ahead, one month ahead, or it will swallow you up. So, during off time in the evenings, I tried to spend my time during US business hours catching up with work and looking at schedule spreadsheets to ensure I was on top of the months to come.
Padova
An hour and a half west of Lignano sits Padova. Known for its educational history, the University of Padova was founded in 1222 and is recognized for its anatomy program and famous professors: Geilleo Galilei, William Havery, and many more. Padova also holds the oldest botanical garden in the world. The garden, Orto Botanico Di Padova (est. 1545), was founded as a garden of curative herbs attached to the medicine facility. Luckily, we had our own history guide the whole trip in Johnny Gregorek, or I probably would not be including this in my blog post.
Upon arriving, Johnny Gregorek, Colby Alexander and I, v-lined straight to Venice. With the meet three days away, it was the perfect opportunity to explore the most beautiful city on the planet and hang out with good company. To our surprise, it only took a five minute walk to the Padova train station and a 15 min train ride to get to Venice. The rest was a blur. A long walk to St Marco Square, a view of the city from the Campanile di San Marco, and a boat ride back to the train station later, we had ourselves an experience we’d never forget. The athletes are hungry to race, but they are also craving an experience and when opportunities like this present themselves, you have to take them and soak in where the sport takes you.
Johnny, Colby, Kyle Merber, Cristain Soratos, Eric Avila, and Amanda Eccleston, arrived in Padova for this meet, making our smaller group, comprised of people from different training groups and states, one team. Whether it was chilling in the rooms, meeting up for meals or a run, the crew remained relatively intact. I think this relaxed environment contributed to the good results we had. It’s hard to be on 24/7 and after being at the Olympic Trials in a high-pressure and highly stressed environment, I’m sure its nice for our athletes to come to a meet in a beautiful, new setting with good company.
As results filter throughout the internet and the Italian night sky begins to dim, the athletes along with co-worker, Brad Yewer and I, went to the post race Gala that the meet puts on. This year was different I was told. The Gala was held on top of the Palazzo della Ragione right in the middle of downtown Padova, which claims to be the largest roof unsupported by columns in Europe. Built in 1172 and finished in 1219, it was like eating through a time machine, and everyone was in awe that we were able to actually experience this architectural masterpiece that isn’t open to the public. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Just like Venice, the first two meets on our European schedule have been a blur. When you travel from meet to meet and have no home base and no routine, it’s easy for it to go by fast. Flynn Sports has a good crew out traveling the world right now, and it helps make the trip much smoother. Up next is the historic Morton Games in Dublin Ireland. Our athletes are sharp and ready to run, and I’m very excited to see how it plays out. Until next time…
