Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Prerace Jitters |
| Spearmon Jr. signs Saucony deal Posted: 09 Feb 2010 04:16 PM PST
Saucony is beginning to form a nice lineup this year. Saucony has officially announced signing Wallace Spearmon Jr. to a shoe deal through 2012. With Saucony having one of the top 200 meter runners in the world, look for the Lexington, Massachusetts-based apparel maker to take off. The move signs a increased focus no sprinting, as opposed to traditionally a larger emphasis on middle distance and distance running. “I’m very excited about competing for the Saucony brand,” said Spearmon, Jr. “What’s really inspiring to me is the brand’s emphasis on performance and innovation, evident in their spikes and their AMP PRO2 training and recovery apparel.” The Spearmon Jr. signing comes as a surprise but consider that Saucony is building on a rich track and field heritage in signing the U.S. indoor 200m record holder. It will be interesting to see what spikes and gear Spearmon rocks this summer.  Related posts:
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| PreRaceJitters’ Exclusive Q & A: New Mexico’s Lee Emanuel Posted: 09 Feb 2010 01:17 PM PST
By sportswriter Cheryl Lowe Albuquerque, New Mexico (February 4, 2010)-Lee Emanuel saw an opportunity, and went for it with determination and the vision that he was going to run the fastest mid-distance races he has ever run in his life. Emanuel, who is currently working on a Master's degree in Physical Education transferred to University of New Mexico in 2007 after finishing his undergraduate degree at Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, United Kingdom. Before he arriving in the United States, Emanuel saw the need for a change in his running routine, and ultimately, his career. He certainly changed since training at high altitude in Albuquerque, NM. The two-time All-American’s rapid rise to the top of the NCAA podium within the past two seasons has provided him with an NCAA bronze medal in the 1500m, Mountain West Conference honors, UNM school records, and the Mt. Sac Relays meet record in the outdoor 1500m (3:37.99 PB). Emanuel is the first Lobo since 1977 to win a gold medal at an NCAA meet in 2009, where he won the indoor mile title in 4:00.36 at the NCAA Indoor National Championship meet at Texas A&M University. PreRaceJitters' Cheryl Lowe talks with Lee about his career in the United States, and what is ahead for him in 2010.
PRJ: You have had a lot of success over the last couple years –rewriting the Lobo record books, winning a NCAA individual title, and earning all-American honors. What is the most important lesson you learned last season? LE: I have learned to always believe in myself. When I came over to the NCAA, during my first year I was kind of in awe of my opponents. In that year Leo Manzano was seen as being untouchable and I kind of bought into that. In my second year I thought to myself I need to step up and start believing I could do what Leo did. PRJ: How did you get into running? LE: Back home in England I was a football player, or soccer player, as I have had to start calling it! The first time I realized I could run well was when I was about 9 or 10 and in are PE classes before we did anything else we always had to run a round the field which was probably about 300 meters. In 2 years I never lost so that was the first time I realized I could run well. When I went to secondary school, aged 11, I ran x-country a few times a year and as I played football every day I was always pretty fit. I first started training at 14 after a local coach told me he thought I could be good at running. PRJ: When you were growing up whom did you model your running after? LE: I never really watched distance running when I was young. I missed the era when Great Britain was dominant at middle distance running with the likes of [Sebastian] Coe, [Steve] Ovett and [Steve] Cram. I used to like watching the shorter events such as the 100 and 400. I remember being a fan of Linford Christie, but that may have just been because he was one of the guys that was always running on TV. PRJ: What influenced your decision to attend New Mexico? It just seemed like the right place to be. I emailed probably 50 coaches in the NCAA and only a handful got back to me. Out of these Coach Franklin was always the most interested and was the first to offer me the chance to come out here, since then I had a lot of trust in him. Added to this was the success he had with athletes from Britain in the past such as Becky Lynn and Scott Overall. He just seemed like a good guy to go with. I was originally going to Butler with him but when he left I decided to switch to New Mexico. The weather, facilities and altitude in Albuquerque made this decision easy, and I do not think I could have made a better choice for a school to attend. PRJ: Did your finish at Indoor Nationals surprise you? LE: Not really, I knew I was in great shape and my I went down to Texas with the mind set that I had a chance to win the title. I had run a good DMR leg the weekend before in the last chance meet and knew that I was in great shape. I wanted to take advantage of this, I believed that I had the ability to win a national title and on that day I just felt ready to do it. PRJ: Which race is your most memorable during your time at New Mexico? LE: I have had some great times running in a Lobo uniform, the most memorable race of my time here was a race I didn't do particularly well in. The race was this x-country season when we won the Mountain West Conference for the first time. We travelled to our conference rivals BYU who had won conference 10 years in a row and were ranked as one of the top teams in the country so to beat them was amazing, especially in there home town. Winning nationals was pretty cool too, but winning and celebrating as a team was something that was very special. PRJ: You are the defending mile NCAA Indoor Champion – when did the "light go on" and you realized that you could run at a very high level? LE: When I was younger I didn't really train that often and I always seemed to win so I always knew I was pretty good. I came out to the America with the intention to compete at the top level. Probably the first time I realized I could compete at a high level was at the Sun Angel Classic at Arizona State in 2008. I came fifth in the race and was beaten by Lopez [Lomong], [Chris] Solinsky, [Matt] Tegenkamp, and John Reilly and was within a second of all those guys. When I got back home I don't think anyone could believe I had got so close to these great guys. PRJ: What are your goals for 2010? LE: My goals for this year are to try and get as many points for New Mexico as I can in the Conference and National meets. Running fast times are great but winning championships is what defines athletes in my opinion. I will be looking to peak for the NCAA championships and will be racing to win. PRJ: What are your preparations to repeat winning the indoor mile? LE: I am training hard and there is not much else I can really do. I think I am ahead of where I was at this point of last year so am pleased with how things are going. I have got the auto time for the mile out of the way nice and early so I can relax with the knowledge that I have booked my ticket to Arkansas already and start focusing on being in optimum shape for March the 12th. PRJ: You once said in an interview that your coach Joe Franklin, told you "the stronger you are, the quicker you can finish." How has that influenced you? LE: I did not believe him at first, the first time I raced a mile for him I got beat pretty badly. He asked me what I thought we should do next. I said speed work he said the opposite. I thought he was wrong but he proved himself completely right, which was annoying!! Last year I had my greatest ever year without once putting my spikes on for a training session and the fastest I ran all season in training was 28 seconds so it seems to work for me. PRJ: What runners are you excited about toeing the line with this season? LE: The competition will be fierce this year especially in the 1,500/mile. I am excited to test myself against the top guys like, German and Centro who have given me a good and honest race every time I have come against them. The way German won Nationals was phenomenal; I could only take my hat of too him on that day. I am hoping there will be a lot more athletes from our group here in New Mexico are involved in the big races this year; Rory Fraser is doing great right now, and Dave Bishop, Ross Millington, Sam Evans, Jacob Kirwa and Chris Barnacle are all looking great in training at the moment so am hopeful I will be on the line with a lot of these guys at NCAA's this year.
PRJ: What are your favorite training and racing shoes? LE: We are a Nike school so all my shoes are Nike, which is great as I love there kit. I run in Pegasus every day, race in Nike Victory's or Matumbos depending on the race. I do workouts in Katanas or Marathoners again depending on what we are doing.
PRJ: Do you get prerace jitters? LE: Not really, I love racing and the bigger the race the more I enjoy it. I get nervous of course everyone does but I am not too bad and am always pretty relaxed before races. PRJ: Thank you for your time and best of luck this season.
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