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Winona native Garrett Heath is hours away from running in his first U.S. Olympic Trials in the 1,500 meters, which take place at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
Here’s what was on Heath’s docket the week before the race: “I just kind of lay low and hang out, rest,” said Heath, whose Stanford teammate Russell Brown also is competing. “We’ll get into some TV shows, make sure we’re eating right and rest up.”
Sounds like we all could be Olympic athletes — at least a week before the Trials. I just got into the show “How I Met Your Mother,” bought some yogurt the other day for the first time and am thinking about a nap, you know, to “rest up.” Bring on the Trials.
Heath and Co. run tonight around 10:25 p.m. The race will be televised on USA Network.
Heath is in the third heat, and it’s “The Heat” to be in with favorites Alan Webb and Bernard Lagat.
Lagat, 33, the America record holder in the 3,000, has the top seed time (3:30.54) — his personal best is 3:26.34 — and he already qualified for the U.S. team with a win in the 5,000 on Monday.
Webb, 25, is the American record holder in the mile (3:46.91) and another favorite to win this year’s 1,500.
Four years ago, he was in Heath’s position, kind of. Webb was actually a favorite then, too, and ended up winning the Trials, but it was still his first.
“It was a pretty stressful thing,” said Webb of heading into his first Trials. “I’ll never have that feeling again. It’s nostalgic, I guess, looking back on it.”
Webb’s itinerary throughout the week was similar to Heath’s. Even the day of the race, since it’s so late, Webb won’t do much of anything.
“I’ll just hang out and try to relax as much as I can,” Webb said. “Watch a movie and kick back. I don’t sit and analyze all day. I try not to think too much about it and do things to take my mind off it.”
I asked Webb if he had any advice for Heath on what to expect at his first Trials.
I don’t want to give him too much advice,” he said with a laugh. “It’s one of those things — at this point in the year, you’re just trusting your training and trusting yourself that when the moment of truth comes, you’ll be ready for it.
“Just be mentally prepared. It’s going to be the toughest thing you’ve ever done. Don’t hold anything back.”
Of course, Heath, 22, is coming into this race with a different perspective than Webb. Heath is not a favorite, but he knows it. People who know Heath, who have seen him compete, won’t count him out.
“Garrett’s one of those runners,” said John Ruggeberg, his former coach at Winona Senior High School. “If there’s any chance of pulling out, pulling around and creating an upset with his tremendous kick, he’s definitely capable of surprising some people.”
When Webb ran in 2004, he was sponsored by Nike and still is. I never really thought about that until I saw him in a Nike poster wearing the shoes I “run” in.
Seeing that poster made me wonder how much of an advantage the pros like Webb and Lagat have over the amateurs like Heath and Russell.
“We probably have a little bit (of an advantage),” Webb said. “At the same time, the collegiate athletes have an advantage, too. They’ve raced a lot more going into this, because their seasons are loaded. They’ve been in a championship already, and they’re in that mode of racing. I guess that could be an advantage or disadvantage. It just depends on the person and how they maintain fitness going through the season.“
Heath was in “that mode” on June 14 at the NCAA Championships, running for Stanford. He took sixth place in the 1,500, but, like Ruggeberg mentioned, Heath gave winner Leonel Manzano of Texas a run for his money down the stretch, running nearly side by side with him around the final turn.
Today, Heath won’t have to face Manzano, who will race in the second heat. Heath will race in Heat 3, easily the most loaded of the three races with Webb, Lagat and Brown.
Brown, Heath and Georgetown’s Matthew DeBole are the only amateur runners in the third heat. Heath has run against just about everyone in the 30-man field at some point in his young career.
“I raced most of them last year at USAs,” Heath said. “It’s going to be a tough field.”
Heath took ninth (3:42.88) in the 1,500 finals in June 2007 at the USATF Outdoor Championships. Webb won the race (3:34.82), Manzano was second, Lagat third and Brown seventh.
If Heath finishes in the top six in his heat or has a time in the top 24, he will race in the semifinal Friday around 10:05 p.m. The finals will be around 7:50 p.m. Sunday on NBC.
