Breakfast Club: Track's Rollercoaster Week

breakfast club
weekly running roundups 

Cole Hocker battles Matt Centrowitz in the Olympic Trials 1500m.

The best of times

Picture the final evening of the US Olympic Track & Field Trials. The latest climate catastrophe, this time a heat dome over the Pacific Northwest, has raised temps into 110s and 120s. The heat forces officials to postpone the final slate of events in Eugene, Oregon until well after sundown.

Bizarrely, this has only improved the vibe. Track was meant to be run under the lights; the halogen glow somehow raises the stakes, heightening the focus on the athletes.

The whole confluence of events—the insane heat, the postponement, the pandemic, the lights and the night sky—it feels like a carnival. The remaining fans are slightly delirious, mildly heat stroked. The athletes are focused and fit. Everyone is tired, and bleary-eyed, and ready to unload 15 months of emotional baggage onto the track. The general weirdness charges the nervous energy among the runners as they shuffle…