Mike Wardian: Bronze Medal for the USA November 9
11/8/09
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| Mike Wardian, leading the top pack at the 50K World Championships in Gibralter on October 31st. |
Hello Everyone,
Hope all is well and your lives are going well.
I am just getting back into things after the 50K World Championships which were held on Halloween (10/31/09) in Gibraltar.
I was able to to run pretty well, 3:00:56 for a bronze medal. Lead the race for most of it but got passed by a really solid guy from South Africa around 43.5K and then a Englishman about 47K, so while I am happy with a bronze I am disappointed I didn’t achieve my goal of coming home with a gold medal for the USA.
That being said, Kami Semick who was also running for the USA, won decisively for the women so we had a great showing overall all for the USA with a gold medal for the woman and a bronze for the men. The rest of the USA team did well too, Justin Fyffe, ran well finishing 9th overall and in the top 10 for his first international race and Amanda Stickel was the 5th woman and ran strong in her first race for the USA.
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| Mike ended up in third place |
Another runner, Jill Perry, who is just an awesome person and a super solid runner had a tough day and didn’t do as well as she could of, but I know that she will come back strong and run really well at one of my favorite races - the JFK 50 Miler in a few weeks.
I was so proud to be a part of the team and can’t wait for my next major challenge which is coming up soon.
I am running the Richmond Marathon on 11/14/09. Then I get to do something really fun and with my family. I can not wait go for another Guinness World Record with one of our sons, Grant on 11/22/09 at the Route 66 Marathon.
I heard from one of my friends that someone was trying to break my son Pierce’s Guiness World Record at the Route 66 Marathon so we are going too and it is going to be “pram pushing duel” for the Guiness World Record.
I am really excited and looking forward to using a new BOB stroller to go after a new World Record. We haven’t decided with model to use yet, so if you have suggestions let us know. We still have the “BOB” Revolution that we used for the last World Record so might consider using that again as it was “good luck” the first time but understand some of the newer models might be lighter, so need to research that the next few weeks.
Besides that all is well and starting to feel my legs coming back after the hard effort and travel last weekend.
Really enjoying training at the moment and can’t wait to get back to it.
Hope things are going well on your ends and look forward to hearing your thoughts on which stroller/model to use for the Guiness World Record attempt in a couple weekends.
Cheers,
Mike
Ps. Herewith a video that Arlington County did about our family being a huge part of my running and it is timely with the World Record Attempt coming up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aZe1YNSrgs
Bob Nov 9
Michael, congrats!
In my opinion the BOB Ironman is a better pure running stroller, with the Revolution being more versatile with the pivoting front wheel.
jaybob Nov 9
Good luck with the world record! that should be fun to follow….i guess this mean no JFK for you this year? I just saw that Scott Jurek and Hal Koerner have entered, it would have been a great battle with all you guys
michael wardian Nov 10
Thanks guys for the emails.
BOB, thanks on the Ironman recommendation, was looking at that too and think it is also 2lbs lighter and has “faster” wheels, so think we are going to go with that one (Ironman), getting one in the next few days and looking forward to getting some practice runs with it.
Grant is ready and so am I can’t wait.
JayBOB, yep, no JFK this year unfortunately, just didn’t fit but hope to be back next year as I would like another crack at the course record and with all those guys running would have been a good year for it.
Mike D Nov 10
Hi Michael. Congratulations on your past/recent successes. Good luck in Richmond. I live/run here, and it’s a great course to run fast on. Weather is looking pretty promising as well. I often see your results in races, and you should kick butt here! Not that you’ll need it, but if you have any questions on the course, let me know and I’ll be happy to share.
clell Nov 10
Great job! You’re in inspiration to many.
Hope to see you in Birmingham, AL for the Mercedes again.
michael wardian Nov 11
Mike D,
Thank you so much for email and look forward to seeing everyone in Richmond this weekend.
I have run the race once before a long time ago and remember how beautiful it was running through the neighborhoods. I am looking forward to running it a little faster this time but still should be pretty and get to run with a guy that I coach after I finish so looking forward to that too.
I would love tips on the course the more information the better.
Thank you so much.
Cheers,
Mike
michael wardian Nov 11
Clell,
Thank you for the reply/comment and hope to come back to Mercedes in 2010, always a nice race and you people there are just so friendly, really refreshing.
Anyhow, thank you again and hope to see you in February if not before hand.
Cheers,
Mike