January 13, 2008: Sitting in a pizza restaurant my last night in Monaco summarizing the past four days for my blog...
As a council member of the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA – www.wmra.info), I am involved in two meetings per year. One is at the World Mountain Running Trophy event which is held each September, the other at the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF – www.iaaf.org) headquarters in Monte Carlo, Monaco in January. The Principality of Monaco has been home to the IAAF since October 1993. After more than 30 years in Sweden (1912-1946) and over 40 years in England (1946-1993), the IAAF moved to Southern Europe following a decision taken at the XXXIX Congress in August 1993 in Stuttgart. The new IAAF headquarters were officially inaugurated on June 10, 1994.
This was my eighth trip to the Cote d`Azur for this annual meeting. I arrived in Nice on Thursday, January 10 after 26 hours of travel from the USA starting in Colorado Springs with stops in Chicago and Frankfurt. It was a long day. While in Monaco I received an e-mail relating the news that Craig Masback was leaving his post as CEO of USATF (www.usatf.org) to accept a position with Nike. At dinner on Friday night, I asked Pierre Weiss, general secretary of the IAAF, his thought on the resignation. Pierre said even though he and Craig did not always agree, he felt that Craig had made a positive impact while at the helm of USATF. Friday was also the day when Marion Jones would learn her fate about lying to federal prosecutors in her drug doping case. Already stripped of her Sydney Olympic medals, this disgraced mother of two young boys found out that she would spend six months in prison as a result of her poor choices related to her drug case. Of course this was another topic of dinner conversation.
Anti doping was also on our minds during our meeting the following day when discussing doping control at our WMRA events. We became closer aligned with IAAF in the fight against illicit drug use by athletes and the WMRA made out of competition drug testing part of our program in 2007 as well as requiring events we were directly involved with to stage mandatory drug tests. These WMRA events include the World Mountain Trophy, the WMRA Grand Prix events, the World Masters, and others. Further, the WMRA established an anti doping commission. Happily, all of our drug tests of mountain runners were negative in 2007. In addition to the anti doping discussions, we reviewed the site details for the 2008 World Trophy (www.wmrt2008.org/pages/fr/) which will be held in Crans Montana, Switzerland on September 14. The venue is a one to two hour train ride from Geneva with the nearest train station at the venue in Sierre which is at the base of the mountain. The Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team (www.usmrt.com) will compete at the Trophy events and the team will stay in Crans Montana while the council will remain in Sierre which is where the meetings of the Council and Congress will be held as well as the team accreditation. Also in Monaco we discussed the 2009 World Mountain Running Trophy (www.wmrt2009.com) which is slated to be held in the USA for the second time in the 25 year history of the Trophy. Alaska hosted the event in 2003 and this time it will be Steamboat Springs, CO to host. There were some contingencies with the Steamboat bid which was provisionally accepted at the WMRA Congress meeting in September 2007. At the meetings in Monaco, the council agreed that the contract would be prepared for signature by three parties to include the local organizing committee (LOC), USATF, and president of the WMRA Danny Hughes. This is another step in finalizing Steamboat as the host. In 2009 the course will be run on an up-down format for the Trophy unlike 2008 when the events are held on an uphill-only course.
Having the Trophy in Steamboat is fantastic for our growing sport of mountain running. More than 30 countries are expected to participate. The course is very spectator friendly. The event will be held September 19, 2009. Aficionados of the sport and neophytes alike are encouraged to come to Steamboat for the weekend to cheer for the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team as well as their other favorite countries. There is an open race on the Sunday for everyone to enjoy.
We completed our lengthy agenda in one full day and had many further discussions about agenda items over dinner and during runs. Our eight-member council was minus two members - one due to illness, the other due to travel related issues stemming from severe rains, wind and fog at the Nice airport on Friday afternoon.
This was certainly the rainiest trip of my ventures to the Mediterranean. It was raining when I arrived and continued to rain on and off for the next three days. Running was still great because the temperatures were in the upper 40s and 50s. It was a welcome respite to run in shorts during the middle of winter. The running in Monaco proper is mainly on pavement with the main route a 5-7km pathway adjacent to the Mediterranean. Basically flat, the out and back course does include some stairs, a short tunnel, numerous plants native to the region, and a continuous view of the coastline with waves splashing non stop on the waterfront.
The only flat running is along the water, anywhere else is up. Great for mountain training. The elevations of the surrounding hills a.k.a.mountains is about 1000 to 2500 feet above the center of the city. Views from the summit are spectacular as are the vistas on the way up to the summit. Climbs are mostly long and gradual and it takes about 30 minutes of steady running from the seaside to reach the trails that wind up to the summit. It is also possible to run on the roads to the summit. The highest point is a round trip of about 2-and-a-half to 3 hours.
During this year's trip, I went on some familiar routes, but also found a few new stomping grounds. One morning I ran with our newest council member, Ingrid Kristiansen (www.ingrid-kristiansen.com) who is a road and track running legend. This 50 something mother of three grown children coaches numerous athletes in her home country of Norway (the website above is mostly in Norwegian) in her first sport of Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, and Nordic walking. Ingrid represented Norway in both the winter and summer Olympics with a fourth place finish her best at the Games.
Ingrid is fit and strong with a gleeful smile and an infectious love for sport. Ingrid ran her first mountain race at the 2007 World Trophy where she donned her first pair of Teva running shoes. She was the first masters runner and one of the top finishers (www.coursedes2bains.org/) in the open race which was held after the other Trophy Races.
While we were running through the dark, rain-covered streets of the city on Saturday morning - the sun was not up until well after 7:30 - Ingrid mentioned to me that an incredibly fast runner would be one who had my turnover and longer legs! Ingrid also told me that I reminded her of running with Joan Benoit-Samuelson. Ingrid said that I was the same size as Joanie and my turnover was similar. I said that I was probably a bit shorter, but was certainly thrilled with what I took as a compliment to be compared with the likes of an Olympic champion!
I like to experience my surroundings to get more familiar with my bearings when traveling – easily accomplished on long runs. On both Friday and Sunday I got two workouts in. Sunday, my long run day, included a nearly two hour run in the morning and just over one hour in the afternoon. All of the other council members had departed by Sunday afternoon so I had quite a bit of time on my own that day. Sunday was a gorgeous day. Not a cloud in the sky. I had not planned to run twice, but the weather was just too good to great to pass up and the views on the run were incredible.
I am now in Munich compiling my notes and finishing this long blog. Because of the jet lag and the time difference of about eight hours, I was up early today - my departure day of Monday, January 14. I decided to get in a quick run this morning. Monaco is so well lit that it was as if the sun was out! I ran through the empty roadways enjoying a windless morning for nearly 30 minutes. After the run, I enjoyed my final Hamam at the hotel where I was staying. A Hamam is a Turkish steam bath. What a wonderful experience.
My next venture from home will be another running-related meeting with Running USA in San Diego the second weekend of February. I'll have a few more posts before that trip.
Happy Running!
Nancy
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