USA ends distance drought

During the closing mile of last Sunday's New York City Marathon, winner Meb Keflezighi twice pointed to the "USA" that he proudly wore across his race singlet.

It was a simple message to the rest of the world: U.S. men's distance running is finally back.

It's been a long time since the days when Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Al Salazar and other Americans were the men to beat. For two and half decades American men lagged behind the Kenyans, Ethiopians, Mexicans, and assorted Europeans. But 2009 has been the year when the U.S men have shown they are not just ready, but able to win.

Keflezighi, who in 2004 won the silver medal in the Olympic marathon and then was the runner-up in New York, had been one of the bright spots before battling a stress fracture last year.

On Sunday, he bided his time in the lead pack before decisively pulling away from four-time Boston Marathon winner Robert Cheruiyot over the past few miles. His 2:09 effort was tactically perfect and fun to watch. And the cushion gave him time to gesture to the USA shirt.

But the bigger story may have come behind him as American Ryan Hall, who many predicted would win, was fourth in 2:10, and was followed by Americans Jorge Torres, Nick Arciniaga, Abdi Abdirahman and Jason Lehmkuhle in places 7-10.

But even before last Sunday, Americans had shown they were back.

Dathan Ritzenhein ran a 12:56 for 5,000 meters in Zurich this summer, breaking the American record long held by Bob Kennedy and almost beating the world best distance runner, Kenenisa Bekele, who won two medals at the world championships. Ritzenhein also finished sixth in the 10,000 at the worlds with the fourth-fastest time ever by an American.

Matt Tegenkamp ran a 12:58 for 5,000 meters in Brussels and finished eighth at the world championship 5,000. In the latter race, another American, Chris Solinsky, ran off Bekele's shoulder in the early part of the race.

On Sunday, Keflezighi took those performances even further as he posted a win in one of the world's most prestigious marathons.

Next year is going to be fun to watch.

Having fun again

After 30 years of running track and road races, marathons, triathlons, cycling time trials and open water swims, it's sometimes tough to get excited about racing especially since I know my fast days are behind me.

But a race two weeks brought the fun back.

And ironically, it was the part of the sport that first got me into running as a high school junior back in 1978: cross country.

I've always loved cross country. But after college, I ran only a handful of these races. Seven years ago I discovered the Mayor's Cup races in Boston's Franklin Park and ran two years in a row. A few weeks ago I went back.

As I got my number, I realized it was races like this that made me first fall in love with running, and especially cross country.

The crisp fall air, the leaves turning and the opening dash across a field as spikes kick up mud into your singlet. Battling up a steep hill while hearing the crunch of dirt under the your feet and finally exiting the woods and coming back onto the field for the final surge to the finish. There were teams racing against each other and coaches yelling encouragement. And no one was wearing headphones. It was old school racing.

It was fun to watch the middle school races that preceded our 5K and the women's and men's elite races. In the latter, we marveled at the lead pack taking out the first mile in just over 4:30 and looking so smooth.

It got me excited about racing again. So next fall I'll be looking for some cross country races to run.

And this time I'll have spikes.

This is the opinion of Day running columnist Joe Wojtas.