There was a great, but strange, ultra-competitive vibe in the air at the start last Saturday of  the National Masters 10-K Road Championships that was held as part of the 5th annual Texas Round-Up. Unmistakably elite (and graying) runners warmed up in their unfamiliar sweats on Congress. with some of Austin’s top masters who were trying to defend their home turf against some of the country’s best age-groupers.

Even though only a few of our runners broke through into the money—notably, Cindy Salazar, Paul Zimmerman and Carmen Troncoso—all the Austin masters who ran, had the thrill of running in a national championship. Just being able to compete for national honors is always special.

Believe it or not, I once did. Seriously.

It was the Diet Pepsi 10-K Championships which in 1979 also served as the 10-K nationals. This was a world-class race and the only way to get into the grand finale in Purchase, New York, was by qualifying in one of the 50 regional races held during the summer. Or, in my case, know someone who could get me in.

Back then, I ran for the Sub-4 Track Club. The team joke was I thought the sub-4 stood for being able to run a sub-4 hour marathon. Actually, it referred to the fact that about half the guys on the team, headed by Steve Scott, were sub-4 minute milers. It was an incredible group with a roster that eventually included John Walker, Nick Rose, Ray Wicksell, Tom Wysocki, Dave Murphy and me.

Just like the Diet Pepsi, I got in through the back door at Sub-4 (a recurrent theme). Anyway, decked out in my all black Sub-4 TC stuff, at least I looked like I belonged with all the other best road runners and age-groupers in the country as we assembled on the starting line for the Pepsi race. I glanced around and saw Bill Rodgers, Bobby Hodge and Randy Thomas (of the Greater Boston TC) to my right and Frank Shorter, Craig Virgin and Herb Lindsay were right next to them. I knew them and they knew me which meant they knew I was a poser who couldn’t possibly run 4:30-per mile pace without a Moped.

The gun goes off and I bolt out off the line praying I might get lucky and  Hoover’ed (you know, sucked along) to a five-minute PR. Man, I was knocking off six-minute miles like it was nothing. And it was nothing. Here, I was running the race of my life and by four miles was practically dead last—dead being the operative word.

At some point, I look around and realize that a pack of masters women are drafting on me into the headwind. Mind you, these were the best masters women in the country, but I was still a young punk who didn’t want to be the sacrificial lamb for women who were older than my mother.

Once my little pack got out of the wind, they ditched me like a cold breakfast taco and left me to fight it out with the stragglers who were just ahead of the sag wagon. I don’t remember what I ran that day and maybe I misremember it, but I believe I outkicked one or two of the 50-year-olds. Maybe not.

At least, I wasn’t last.

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1. Now that the Olympic Marathon Trials are history, the Boston and New York City marathons want to host the Trials again in 2012. But marathon officials in those cities want USATF to pony up at least $1 million to help defray the costs. "There's no going back at this point," said Mary Wittenberg, the president of the New York Road Runners, which organizes the New York Marathon. "We've taken the Trials to a whole new level. I think we're shortchanging everybody if we don't find a way to build on it." What New York City and Boston would like is to fold the Trials races into their regular race, possibly with an earlier start, but USATF is adamantly opposed to that.
2. The running Kohagens passed on the Round-Up 10-K last Saturday to go to Rockdale for one of their favorite races: The Dewberry Jam 5-K. If truth be told, they were also hoping to do a little cherry-picking as dad Lou and his stepdaughter Karen Saenz, figured with everybody in Austin running the Round-Up, they might grab some prize money in Rockdale. But with a prize purse of $200-$100-$50 up for grabs, some top runners still showed. Jacob and Helen Rotich wound up winning $200 apiece, but the Kohagens still swept their respective age groups. Lou Kohagen won the 50-54s in 19:37, Karen Saenz took the 30-34 in 19:51 and Susan Kohagen collected the 50-54s in 25:10. No money, but an age-group sweep for the Kohagen clan.
3. Speaking of running families, the Hausmanns are collecting more than their fair share of age-group wins. Kenny—the dad—has been one of the best runners in town for years and has always brought his sons Kyle and Matthew to the races. They must have learned something from the old man. Now that Matthew is off in college, Hausmann’s 14-year-old son Kyle is starting to rack up some victories too. Kyle, a freshman at McCallum, broke a collarbone while skateboarding in January, but since recovering, he has won the Moe’s 5-K and then, for the first time, Kyle soundly whipped Kenny in the Bun Run 5-K a few weeks ago. The following week, Kyle was the overall winner of the Tiger 5-K in Dripping Springs by 10 seconds but what made his victory especially impressive were some of the big boys—Scott Birk, Scott McIntyre and Jesse Devlyn—who he beat. Then, last weekend, Kyle paced second in the Round-Up’s 5-K in 17:48. Now, if he would just ditch that darned Ipod while running…
4. The honors keep rolling in for UT’s Leonel Manzano. Last week, Monday, Leo Manzano was honored with the Texas Exes Leadership Award which is an annual presentation to the student-athlete who embodies the attributes that are valued in alumni leadership. Such attributes include academic excellence, unselfish team play, desire to excel, service to the community and respected leadership. Manzano, who will graduate this spring with a double major in Spanish and Portuguese, gets a life membership to the Texas Exes, funded by the President's Leadership Award Endowment created by Frank Denius in 1985. "I'm on course to be the first person in my family to graduate from a university, so my academics are really important to me," said Manzano, a four-time NCAA champ and eight-time All-American, who was named USATF runner of the week for leading the Longhorns to two relay victories at the Penn Relays.
5. Don’t know if you noticed all the race volunteers at the Round-Up wearing those mysteriousoso Nike T-shirts that read: 8-31-08. Mystery over. Nike is sponsoring a worldwide series called the Human Race on August 31st and only four of the races will be in the United States. But one of those four will be right here in the heart of Texas. Details remain sketchy, but it will be a downtown 10-K held at night and most likely will be held on the same (or similar) course as the Round-Up. Should be fun.
6. Hard to believe, but the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 12th is already closed at 45,000 runners. You can still get in through one of the race’s 65 charity partners or an affiliated tour group. Wish this race reverted back to when it was held on the last Sunday in October when the weather is cooler. Last year’s steambath was an anomaly but since Chicago switched dates, it always seems to flirt with warm weather. The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon is a good alternative to Chicago on October 5, but if you’re interested, you’d better hurry. Twin Cities fills up quickly and has already reached 75 percent of its capacity and expect a sell out within 10 days.
7. While we’re still on the topic of sell outs, The Rookie on May 10th in New Braunfels, the first of the six-race Texas TriSeries, is already sold out. CapTexTri on May 25th is still open, but race director Brad Davison expects it will close this week.
8. A large contingent of Central Texans  headed on down to Corpus Christi last weekend for the Starrs Triathlon/Duathlon and returned with plenty of hardware. Troy Clifton of Manor took first in the 30-34 age group in the triathlon (1-K swim, 30-K bike, 5-K run). Shawn Phillips of Georgetown (40-44), Rick Kennedy of Austin (45-49) and Susie Gaskins of Austin (30-34) also won their age groups. Glenda Adams, 40, of Austin, powered her way to the overall women’s victory in the accompanying duathlon with Jennifer Aleman of Georgetown winning her 30-34 age group.
9. Rogue’s Trail Series begins on Sunday with its first race. All three races have a 10-K or a 30-K to choose from. The first one will be held on the tough Walnut Creek Metro Park course and begins at 7:30 on Sunday. There’s parking in the pool parking lot.
10. There’s one race left in the Spring Sprint Series (Chuy’s on May 10th), but one of our dutiful readers has pointed out that five guys who placed in the Distance Challenge Series are also in the running for top honors in the spring. Phil Carmical is leading the 35-39s (third in the DC), while Scott Birk is in a dogfight with Scott McIntyre for the top spot of the overall time standings. Big Scott is slightly ahead of McIntyre and also finished third in the DC 45-49. Da Judge—Jon Wisser, the fittest 62-year-old in the land--is second in the Sprint Series (60-64) after finishing third in the Distance Challenge. Among the 70-year-olds, Vern Dalback is second in the Sprint and was second in the DC. His buddy Keith Mason of Georgetown won the Distance Challenge 70-72 age group and is currently second in the Spring Sprint Series.
11. News from the Joseph and Laura Lee Kozusko household. The couple had their second daughter—Isla Mercer Kozusko—on April 17th. Congrats!
12. A huge honor has been announced for one of my closest friends on the planet: Amby Burfoot. He, along with Johnny Hayes and Priscilla Welch will make up the National Distance Running Hall of Fame Class of 2008. For Amby, the creative force behind Runner’s World for 15 years, it’s an honor which is long overdue. Amby just commemorated the 40th anniversary of his 1968 Boston Marathon victory by running Boston yet again. Johnny Hayes was the first American to win the Olympic Marathon as he was awarded the victory in the 1908 race when Dorando Pietri collapsed on the track and was helped to the finish. Priscilla Welch was the greatest woman masters marathoner and still holds the world masters record of 2:26:51, set in London in 1987 at the age of 42. The Hall of Fame ceremony will be on July 12th in Utica, New York.

Have any juicy news for me? (It doesn’t have to be entirely true.) If you do, email it to Wish@runtex.com.