Eddy Lee

So Eddy Lee broke 4 minutes in the 1500m today.

Letsrun.com can probably explain better than I can:
http://www.letsrun.com/2010/eddylee0416.php
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2270504

But the long and short of it, to me - a college kid posts on a message board that he wants to break 4 minutes for the 1500m - not the fastest time in the world by a long shot, but not necessarily easy. He says he won't stop until he does. One year passes and he gets a little closer but still quite a ways off - not necessarily doing the smartest training in the world, but he's on a college team. It's difficult to succeed under the best of circumstances when, well, you're not the most talented runner in the world - I empathize with him on that count. And his coaching is not necessarily the best, nor is college always the most ideal environment to be running fast.

I  hopped onto the thread during my senior year's indoor season, because I was looking to do the same thing. I eventually ended up breaking 4 - not that year, but the next one. After, of course, moving to Boston, joining NBB, changing homes and jobs and cars and lives. And when I did, two of the people from that thread were at the meet, cheering. It kind of brought it full-circle for me - something I'd failed to accomplish in college was finally finished, and some of the people who knew what went into it were there to see it.

It's kind of the ultimate feel-good story - "Local boy does good." Except, as in almost all cases in real life, the 'doing good' is a lengthy process of years. Eddy Lee - whom I have never met in person - managed to take the really difficult task of actually doing what you say you will and made it happen. I'm always impressed by that. It's more about the dedication to the goal through tough places and long weeks than it being an Olympic quality time.

Eddy Lee - the running everyman! Through the rough California weather, the coaching, the illness, the altitude, the nay-sayers, the injuries, and everything else - you have persevered. You said you wouldn't give up, so you didn't.

AMEN!